Does your Body Mass Index matter?
Without a doubt, no matter how one looks at
it, BMI does matter. Regardless as to it capabilities of being accurate for
each person considering we all differ slightly based on ethnicity and even age,
it still stands as a strong figure for those who are over or under-weight.
Although those who fall within the over-weight or under-weight categories are
suggested to change their diets, it is those who fall at or below the
starvation category and above the obese category that will see most of the
effects of not falling within what is considered a normal weight to height
ratio. Consider that in the last 20 to 30 years,
more technological as well as culinary technology has been released to the
general public as a means of saving time, all of these time savers have now
started to turn against us. Sure the human life expectancy has increased
dramatically over the last 100 years, but the truth is, that these
technological break through are considered time savers and not life saver. From
dining to the various modes of transportation, people’s average weight has
increased almost equally if not greater than the life expectancy. The time
savers as we call them, has put us in a bad predicament, the automobile has
allowed for longer work commutes, which in turn has also lowered the average
time spent on daily exercise, and instead replaced that time with the ever
increasing need for time saving foods. It use to be just restraints, but they
were not fast enough. So out came the fast food, which is in no way healthy at
all. From there, many people now just order food to be delivered thus lowering
the amount of daily exercise that much more. Sure it is easy to look at someone and say,
“Hey that person is over/under weight.” But a need for a scientific approach
was needed. It was this need for some type of scientific approach that led the
National Institute of Health to create the body mass index as a means to screen
the general public to determine if they need to gain or loose some weight to be
healthier. This of course is not to say that someone whose BMI is 27 is not
considered safe, but rather more interestingly, the number were set based on
susceptibility to diseases as well as health problems which can occur later on
in life and not always at the time that the BMI was done. Although the body mass index has many
categories, for general use it is usually kept to these three major categories
which include a healthy weight, over weight as well as obese. The under-weight
categories are not closely monitored as much as the over-weight categories do
to the fact that a sane person cannot physically allow themselves to starve to
death, although they do come close. Rather than classifying them under the
under-weight and starvation categories, they are treated as anorexic. One of the biggest misconceptions is that
the body mass index is based on body fat, which is not true, but rather a
simple static chart showing a weight to height ration. All the BMI odes, is
determine that a person of “X” stature, needs to have a weight in or around this
level. In such case, a mathematical figure is given as the BMI which then can
be translated to the categories and even further to suggested intake of more or
less calories according to the category in which a person falls under.