Does obesity affect your cognitive power?
Despite affecting your waistlines, obesity can significantly impact your brain functions. Excess weight gain can reduce your memory along with other essential skills.
- Sohamhalder227
- 22 March, 2024
- 2 mins ago
Despite affecting your waistlines, obesity can significantly impact your brain functions. Excess weight gain can reduce your memory along with other essential skills.
The physiological and biochemical functions of the body are strongly connected. Obesity is the result of both these functions which has a shocking impact on cognitive abilities. Various factors starting from lifestyle to genetic can promote obesity. Go through this article to know how obesity can impact your brain functions and probable solutions.
Obesity and the rapid aging process:
It is well known that white and grey matter in the brain controls cognitive functions. Learning new skills is strongly dependent on white matter. As you grow older, there occurs observable depletion in white matter. Obese people tend to age faster than others. Consequently, the brain ages faster, affecting cognitive abilities.Scientists have shown that white matter is found to be in lesser quantity in obese people. Based on the results, obese people are at least 8-10 years older than thinner people.Even brain size, an important parameter of cognitive abilities decreases along with obesity.Moreover, the grey matter depletes quantitatively as you gain excess weight.
Obesity and memory retention:
You must be shocked to know that obesity can promote memory loss. through various biochemical pathways, dementia or memory loss is stimulated due to excess weight gain. Scientists have also mentioned that excess belly fat is the worst enemy of your cognitive abilities. Obesity is associated with higher cholesterol concentration in the blood which obstructs sufficient blood flow to the nervous system. Reduction in brain functioning may sometimes lead to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
Overeating tendency:
There lies a positive feedback mechanism between brain function and eating behavior. Once you start gaining excess weight, it is really hard to lose the weight. The reason lies in the interplay between eating and satiety center in your brain. You will never feel satisfied unless you eat more. The satiety center is situated in the hypothalamus of your brain which judges and providesa satisfaction code for consumed food. It’s surprising but true. So, once you get inside this vicious loop, your overall health status will start declining. Furthermore, overeating can interfere with recollection power, as morbid obese people tend to forget most of the things and could not even recollect.
What is the solution?
The only solution is reducing excess weight. If you are gaining excess weight within a short period, it’s better to talk to an expert. Every type of obesity can be treated at an earlier stage. Proper food habits, regular exercise, and avoiding junk foods hold the key. Never compromise your cognitive abilities to impress your satiety center.
So, from now on, cut down the excess weight to regain your cognitive abilities.