In this essay the author will discuss the effects of class society, the bio-psycho-social issues and lifespan development, in relation to a 30 year old man described in the scenario (please see Appendix), and in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s [NMC] “Code of Conduct” (2008), to maintain confidentiality his name has been changed to “Danny”.
Danny is overweight and unfit. He continues to gain weight because his energy intake is far greater than his energy output. His low-nutrient diet consists mainly of carbohydrates and fats and he leads a sedentary life, spending a lot of time watching television. He uses the lift to go up and down from his flat on the 8th floor. The only exercise Danny takes is walking to the local club and shops. (Andersen, Crespo et al 1998).
This increased weight gain and lack of fitness puts undue stress on the body, Danny’s cardiovascular system has to work much harder just moving the extra body mass around. His diet may lead to an increase in adipose tissue (fat under the skin) and a decrease in sweat gland density making it much harder for the vascular system to remove waste heat energy. Davies,B., Bull,R.,Roscoe,J.,Roscoe,D.( 2005).
This build up of adipose tissue restricts the flow of heat towards the skin putting a greater strain on the circulatory system as the heart has to work harder to pump blood around the body so the heat energy carried by the blood can be released more rapidly near the skins surface, resulting in heat overloading and increased respiratory functioning. Heat rashes can also develop which may lead to the sweat glands in the folds of the skin becoming infected and blocked. Davies et al.( 2005)
Danny’s weight also puts him at risk of developing a...
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...kempt 30-year old, who lives alone on the 8th floor of a council high-rise block of flats. He has never been in permanent employment, although he has had a series of casual jobs. Danny has family living nearby, but he has little contact with them. Danny is overweight due to poor diet and lack of exercise. His hobbies include socializing in the local club and watching TV.
Recently, Danny has begun to feel unwell; he thinks that he may have a high temperature but assumes that it will resolve itself without seeking medical advice.
You have studied:
• The maintenance of oxygen intake in biology
• The cardiovascular system in biology
• Skin and temperature in biology
• Lifespan development in psychology
• Social class in sociology
• Housing, homelessness and labeling and stigma in sociology
How might you apply these concepts to the scenario?
Lipid metabolism is one source of energy for the human body. We eat food containing one form of lipids, triacylglycerols. Before starting lipid metyabolism, these fats get broken down into droplets by bile salts.Triacylglycerols can be broken into fatty acids plus glycerol via hydrolysis with the help of the pancreatic lipase enzymen and then get used by cells for energy by breaking down even further. Once the pancreas and cells have enough energy and don’t need to absorb anymore, fatty acids get synthesized back into triacylgleryols. The excess triacylglycerols get stored in adipose tissue. Excess storage leads to weight gain and obesity.
Obesity is a very complex condition as there are many physiological and psychological dimensions to it. The complications accompanying the disease are multiple and are associated with the increased risk of many other medical conditions. It is thought that we live in an obesogenic environment due to an interaction of environmental, developmental and cultural influences. With the main cause of the disorder thought to be due to a combination of a sedentary lifestyle accompanied by an increased consumption of poor quality food with a high calorie and sugar content. The lack of energy expenditure could be explained by many individuals working a large number of hours, most days of the week in jobs that require minimal physical activity and it is often difficult to accomplish the recommended ...
“My coach patted my belly and said, ‘You’re getting a little fat,’”David Proctor explained. David Proctor is a cross-country legend from Boston University. David beat the crazy four-minute mile which made him at the top of the list for running on Britons’ 2012 Olympic track team. With all that success, one might think David was a very happy and healthy person both mentally and physically, one would think wrong. His coach told him he needed to lose weight, the idea being the less you weigh the faster you run. David attempted to diet the healthy way for a couple days but he was unsuccessful, he then cut out both breakfast and lunch. With only eating one small meal a day for dinner, sometimes nothing at all for multiple days, he passed
Since the beginning of time, social class and race have been paramount in society. Back in the time of caveman, roles and traditions were passed down based on gender. The man was responsible for protection and collecting food while women were responsible for cooking and keeping house. That belief has traversed time and slowly changes with each era. But throughout history, men and women have lived with preconceived notions of their duties to their families. These notions have been passed down generations and have affected how people live within their society. In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, social class is revered in the story of the De la Garza family. As we see through the personal journey of Tita, the main character, these distinctions are evident.
Socioeconomic status (SES) is the measure of the influence that the social environment has on individuals, families, communities, and schools. The concept of SES considers other influences such as the chance for social or economic advancement, influence on policy, availability of resources, and prestige of the primary occupation. (www.education.com).
Social class is a subjective concept in social sciences and political theory where individuals are grouped into different classes. This set a hierarchy inside the society structure where the upper and lower class exist and contribute to the society. Understanding social classes and their effects on the people, as well as cultures and social behavior and lead sociologist closer to the development of an ideal society.
Obesity is when a person’s calorie intake exceeds one’s activity level. Activity burns calories and what ever calories are not burned, are stored as fat cells in the body. 19-24% is a healthy body mass index (BMI) for an individual. Mary Jo Thomas, M.D., states that “One that is obese has a body mass index of over 30. With a BMI of 30 or greater, one is at an immediate health threat.” (Thomas, 2013) Scientific evidence supports that the main causes of an obesity may include: ““increasingly sedentary lifestyle; high consumption of simple carbohydrates and fats (especially the refined sugars and greasy preparations common in junk and fast foods); and stress. To a lesser degree illnesses such as hypothyroidism (u...
The term health is greatly influenced by factors both positively and negatively (Tones & Green 2004). An example portraying this statement, a persons’ income. A person who earns a high salary is a result of high educational achievement and a well paid job such as a Professor. They will have the advantage of experiencing both for themselves plus their family, better access to healthcare (Bupa) and live healthier lives Whereas for a person who earns a low salary and is working as a cleaner, both them and their family may be prone to chronic illnesses. This is due to lack of accessibility to healthcare and lower social being. This essay will be exploring factors that have impacted on a person’s socio-economic class, his/her social situation and
Although many individuals are uncertain about the increasing statistics associated with obesity, more than seventy percent of men and virtually sixty-two percent of women within the United States adult population are overweight or obese (Wilmore, Costill, & Kenney). Obesity refers to the condition of having an excessive amount of body fat. If an individual’s amount of body fat becomes too excessive, he/she is at a much greater risk of developing life-altering diseases such as heart failure, hypertension, type II diabetes, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, etc. (Wilmore, et al., 2008).
According to the USDA, at the start of century 21st American people have increased their daily caloric intake by consuming five hundred calories more than in 1970. As cited by Whitney & Rolfes (2011), there are many recognized causes of obesity such as genetics, environment, culture, socioeconomic, and metabolism among others; but the cause most evident is that food intake is higher than the calories burned in physical activity. Excess of energy from food is stored in the body as fat causing an increase of weight. During the course of the last 40 years, obesity has grown enormously in the United States and the rates remain on the rise (pgs. 272-273).
The onset of obesity is believed to stem from multiple causes, both physiological and environmental. An example of a cause of obesity might include the lack of exercise, however in this review I will foc...
Obesity is a physiological condition characterised by an excessive accumulation of body fat, specifically the build-up of adipose tissue beneath the skin. In recent years, the number of people diagnosed with clinical obesity has increased dramatically, with governments desperately trying to tackle the obesity epidemic and its associated consequences (McLannahan and Clifton, 2008). Studies have found that the prevalence of obesity once stood at an estimated 9.8% (Kelly, Yang, Chen, Reynolds & He, 2008), a considerable figure representing almost 400 million individuals worldwide. Even though obesity has now been recognised as a major problem the number of people affected is increasing rapidly, with almost 300,000 deaths attributable to obesity in the USA each year (Allison, Fontaine, Manson, Stevens, & VanItallie, 1999). Excessive amounts of fat can prove dangerous as the condition has a very high comorbidity rate with other long term health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and cancer (Pi-Sunyer, 1993). Numerous examples of media, medical journals and educational literature concerning obesity refer to the condition as a disease, with an increasing use of the word ‘Epidemic’ to describe the somewhat recent surge of obesity cases in western societies (Boero, 2007), however there is little material available that offers evidence for obesity meeting specification for disease. Instead it has been proposed that obesity is alternatively a risk factor for developing other potentially harmful diseases, influenced by a variety of other factors i.e. genetics, cultural ideals and biological impairments.
It is perpetuated by the way wealth, power, and prestige are distributed and passed on from one generation to the next
Social class assumes different definitions based on an individual’s view on the topic. The definition may take the 20th Century assumption of sociological strata and one portrayed by the imperialist understanding of class. The sociological perspective of social class highlights an individual’s or group’s classification, as well as their position in societal standing, as predetermined by history, economy, and the role that they are expected to play as a result of being in that stratum (Jereb and Ferjan 155). While social class may take different interpretations, the interpretation adopted in this study is that of social strata that one occupies in a socially stratified society. The argument here is that social class is increasingly becoming less important in our society.
Before I read the chapter on social class, I thought social class was a category about people who are put into class by how much money they make; you are either poor or rich. However, there is much more regarding social class than I had originally thought. Social class it separated into a four tier criteria. Beginning at the bottom is the “lower class”, or “underclass” which is referred to by poverty, homeless, and unemployment. This class, usually hasn’t finished high school, doesn’t have medical care and can’t afford sufficient housing. Many people mischaracterize these poor people as mothers who abuse the welfare system by baring several babies that they can’t afford and fathers who are able to work but do not due to drug addiction or their