Is Obesity a Psychological or Physiological condition?

Question

Does it come from a psychological need to over eat and to eat unhealthy things, or to binge eat. Or is it Physiolgical, in which you eat and your body is unable to burn it off.

Answer 1

Obesity is a physiological condition as it describes a person who has excessive fat. How they got the excess fat can be from a number of causes. Psychological causes may be depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or an eating disorder. Physiological causes such as hypythyroidism are also possible. However, my personal opinion is that the majority of americans suffer from obesity due to behavioral causes. Behavioral causes include: inadequate excersize from watching so much television, a high fat, low nutrition diet from excessive intake of convenience (fast) foods, and a general laziness due to our technology-based culture. My favorite example of this is the woman at my son's elementary school who lives 4 houses from the elementary school but drives her daughter to school every day. She spends more time in the car than she would walking her daughter the 250 feet or so to the school, and yes, she drops her off and then goes back home.

Behavioral obesity, IMO, is the problem with the USA.

Answer 2

Physiological Condition

Answer 3

It's both a psychological and physiological phenomenon. However, I would say that it is the marketing of unhealthy fast food to consumers. So much garbage is produced by the food industry to satisfy the quick need for food consumption. As Jack LaLane always says, would you feed your dog a cigarette and a donut for breakfast?
Each individual has a psychological component about the feelings and needs for food use and consumption. You must combine this with the genetic predisposition of the individual, too. We all can't be thin, but we can control the amount of food we eat, and the calories we consume.

Answer 4

for the headaches.....buy Lavender essential oil/Aromatherapy from the health food store. Put one or two drops on each fingertip and massage into each temple. Back pain is commonly an inflammation but it is also a sign of weak muscles.Do back strengthening exercises and lose weight if you are overweight because a big belly pulls down on the back muscles. You want natural anti-inflammatories. Fish oil at least 3 grams per day, also the same Lavender can be put into a bath. 12 drops first mixed with a small amount of a light vegetable oil but ( NOT cooking oil) then stir the mixture around the tub water and sit and soak.You can find many natural pain killers on the web. One is white willow bark in capsules. WWB contains salicin which is the active ingredient in aspirin but with lesser stomach burning. You still need to be aware. And last, back pain is also a sign of disease like kidney inflammation so consider a checkup.

Answer 5

A bit of both. I was a binge eater when I was younger. Now I eat sensibly (and very little) and I have a difficult time losing weight. I was obese as a child, and lost it all before I turned 16 (diet, exercise). Now, that no longer works. My metabolism is shot.

Answer 6

It can be either. The majority of the cases it is because people eat too much. Weather healthy or not. The portions are way too much. Most of Americans set on their backsides for 8 to 12 hrs a day and than go to bed and sleep. What a sad state of affairs.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

It's multi-faceted.
Even the need to eat can be both physical and mental. You can think you're hungry when you aren't, you can have cravings which come from emotions as well as deficiencies.
Some people have naturally slow metabolisms or have destroyed their metabolism due to years of dieting. Others don't, won't or can't exercise.

Answer 9

obesity can be a genetic problem for some people, but over-eating and binge eating come from mental health issues.

Answer 10

Obesity has been linked to a malfunctioning hypothalamus (which controls hunger). It is unknown if the malfunction is due to biological/physiological reasons, or if it is rooted in psychology.