Stories tagged air-conditioning
Obesity: Obesity can lead to a myriad of health problems.
It sounds a little outrageous, doesn't it?
However, according a report in the International Journal of Obesity, comfortable temperatures is one of the top factors that may cause obesity.
Close to 25% of Americans are considered obese. It is becoming a significant medical problem in our country. Why is this happening?
It is quite apparent that poor diet and lack of exercise, the "Big Two," can lead to obesity, but there are other factors that also play a role.
David Allison, an obesity researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his team of 19 researchers generated a list of the "Top Ten" other contributors to obesity. The list includes lack of sleep, medicines with a weight gain side effect, fewer smokers, comfortable temperatures, reproductive factors, and more.
Upon first inspection, it seems strange that comfortable temperatures even made the list. However, when our bodies are uncomfortable they use up energy to bring us to a more stable level. When we are too cold, we burn fat to stay warm. When we are too hot, we naturally become less hungry. Also, our bodies react to disagreeable temperatures by shivering and sweating. Heating and air-conditioning make life easier by regulating our body temperature for us.
Should we spend less time in our comfortable air-conditioned homes and more time sweating in the sun?
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