There are many ways in which you can take control of some of the factors that may be affecting your arthritis. Losing weight can have profound implications on the severity of your symptoms. Humans are designed to be slim rather than flabby and the Western epidemic of obesity is causing an increase in many disease conditions, including arthritis. Being overweight is a proven risk factor in arthritis. Any suspension system wears out more quickly if it is overburdened. Being overweight can put unnatural strains on joints. Tendons and ligaments may become separated by layers of fat, distorting the ways in which they connect with the bones.
Fat people are usually less active than thin people, and this, too, has a bad effect in arthritis. Moderate, regular exercise helps in arthritis. Keeping your weight under control has several advantages for arthritis sufferers. It lessens the burden on load bearing joints, especially the hips and knees and between the vertebrae of the spine. It may make you feel younger.
Keeping your weight under control can give a big psychological boost to people with arthritis, as well as improving their general health. Are you overweight? One way to find out if you are overweight is by visiting your family doctor or hospital outpatient's department, where there will usually be a weighing machine with clearly marked indications of what is mildly and seriously over weight for someone of your height and gender.
You will be advised on how much to lose and over what period of time according to what your weight is. Another way is to find your body mass index. If you are within a healthy weight limit, do not try to lose weight to combat or avoid arthritis. You may do yourself more harm than good. How much weight to lose?
It is important not to try to lose a lot of weight in a short time. Research shows, conclusively, that rapid weight loss is almost invariably followed by rapid weight gain, sometimes to a greater weight than the weight that the person was originally. Crash or severely restricted diets are, therefore, unhelpful. You should follow a sensible diet, ideally recommended or approved by your doctor or specialist nurse. Someone who is very over weight may initially lose weight rapidly, but once that first phase is completed after a month or so, the best long term rate of loss is half to one kilograms or one to two pounds each week.
No comments:
Post a Comment