Overweight and obesity in Australia is reaching epidemic proportions.
We are now one of the fattest nations in the developed world with the prevalence of obesity more than doubling in the last 20 years.[1]
The most recent statistics from Obesity Australia indicate that 63 per cent of our country is overweight or obese, with 28 per cent obese. According to their 2014 report, No Time to Weight, obesity is a major health and societal factor for the Australian population. [2]
Unfortunately, things are likely to get worse with projections seeing around 70% of Australians being overweight or obese, by 2025, with around a third of the Australian adult population falling into the obese category.
Personal cost
It is well documented that carrying too much weight is dangerous for your health. While obesity is not a disease, it does contribute to the development of other diseases. [3]
Health problems and consequences of being overweight include:
cardiovascular disease such as hypertension (high blood pressure)
coronary artery disease and stroke
obstructive sleep apnoea
insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes
non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
cancer
osteoarthritis
cognitive impairment
mood and anxiety disorders, including depression, negative body image and poor self-esteem.
If the thought of developing the above diseases isn’t enough to shock you, what about dying early?
Obesity Australia states that 40-year old obese women who don’t smoke will lose around 7.1 years of life, while obese male non-smokers will die 5.8 years earlier than expected. This is compared with their normal weight counterparts. [4]
The financial cost
As well as costing people years and quality of life, obesity is costing our country billions every year.
Estimating the financial cost of obesity is complicated. However, 2008 figures from Obesity Australia puts Australia’s total obesity cost at $58.2 billion per year. [5]
Costs relating to obesity include loss of productivity, carer’s costs, health system costs, and wellbeing. The total financial and lost wellbeing costs broken down by obesity-related diseases are as follows:
Cardiovascular disease
Financial cost $2.8 billion
Lost wellbeing $31.8 billion
TOTAL $34.6 billion
Cancer
Financial cost $695 million
Lost wellbeing $9.0 billion
TOTAL $9.7 billion
Type 2 Diabetes
Financial cost $3.0 billion
Lost wellbeing $5.3
TOTAL $8.3 billion
Osteoarthritis
Financial cost$1.8 billion
Lost wellbeing $3.8 billion
TOTAL $5.7 billion
That’s an awful lot of money to spend on disease!
The future
There is no doubt Australia is at a crossroads.
If the rate of obesity continues to grow at the projected rate, it’s fair to say the financial and wellbeing costs will also grow — to overwhelming proportions.
However, by taking steps to lose the excess fat, improve health and wellbeing, we as a nation can turn the statistics around. Not only can we save billions of dollars, we can improve our quality of life, and our life expectancy.
If you feel you need to take control of your weight and health, speak to your health care practitioners and consider joining your local fitness studio and/or take some personal training sessions.
Even if you have not heard of the term ‘fitspiration’, you have probably seen some of the countless images posted on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, designed to ‘inspire’ you to take action and get fit.
The common theme among these pictures is they portray men or women (mostly women) wearing tightly fitted crop tops, shorts or even spandex. These people do not have faces (well, they obviously do but they are not photographed), because the pic is too busy focusing on their rock-hard abs or the beads of sweat glistening on their well-toned body.
This trend of collecting pictures, memes and quotes about ‘pushing through pain’, ‘working your butt off’ and ‘staying motivated’ is called ‘fitspiration’ or ‘fitspo’.
Not inspiring at all
However, one of the problems with fitspiration is that it does not inspire. These memes tend to focus on exercise as a form of punishment, or something that has to be ‘borne’, rather than enjoyed. They focus on the physical results (often sexualised), rather than the health benefits. They also aim to guilt people into action (i.e. you are lazy and worthless if you’re not disciplined enough to look like this).
Experts believe the trend is promoting poor body image, increasing the likelihood of eating disorders and impaired mood.
A 2013 study showed that when people (particularly those with eating disorders) view images of models idealising thin or muscular bodies, they experience negative self-esteem, may grow anxious or depressed and their symptoms worsen.[i]
If that’s not bad enough, an Australian study of 156 adolescent girls (mean age of 14.9 years) [ii] showed that viewing these kinds of images on the internet or in magazines causes teenage girls “greater internalisation of thin ideals, appearance comparison, weight dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness”.
Interestingly enough, when girls saw fitspiration-type images on the television, they didn’t experience the same feelings, prompting the researchers to conclude that the internet represents a powerful sociocultural influence on young women’s lives.
The problem with social media
Like it or not, social media is here to stay. While social media is not all bad, there is increasing evidence that it is fuelling a rise in eating disorders among teenagers, as they share images of girls looking dangerously thin.
Recent news from the UK[iii] indicates that the number of those aged 13 to 19 being admitted to hospital with anorexia and bulimia has doubled in the last three years.
The new trend of sharing photographs of excessively thin people and swapping tips on social media is becoming an obsession. Experts say that their desire to achieve the ‘perfectly toned body’ can lead them to develop eating disorders and become terrified of eating particular foods. It is also having a devastating effect on their self-confidence and body image.
What many girls don’t realise is that a vast majority of images on the internet are Photo-shopped to look perfect. This culture of ‘perfection’ is now causing teenagers to amend their own photos to create a slimmer or more attractive image of themselves, before posting to their social media accounts.
Tags such as #fitspiration or #thinspiration abound on social media, with countless individuals sharing and collecting these images of very thin and sexualised women. The practice can become addictive and put enormous pressure on teenagers to look a certain way.
Closer to home, a study from Flinders University revealed that a growing number of girls are turned off sport in high school because Facebook and Instagram are making them feel self-conscious about their bodies.[iv]
It’s not just affecting teenage girls
While evidence shows that teenagers and young women are the most vulnerable, men are also affected. After viewing photos of lean, topless males, they also experience a dip in body confidence and a heightened desire to lose weight.[v]
A Sport England survey found that 75 per cent of women would like to exercise more, but were afraid to for fear of being judged over appearance, ability and concerns that they are being ‘selfish’. [vi]
Researchers at Flinders University are calling into question the fitspo trend and are currently conducting a study of women aged 17 to 29 years to determine whether fitspirational media actually discourages women exercising. [vii]
They believe that the new ideal permeating through media is overly sexualised women with bodies that are toned, fit, strong and skinny — something that the vast majority of women will never be able to obtain or maintain.
Researchers believe that viewing such images will result in greater body dissatisfaction, mood disturbance and lower levels of exercise participation.
Exercise for health and happiness
While it is healthy to exercise, doing so because you feel guilt, ashamed of your body, are chasing unrealistic ideals or because you feel unworthy if you don’t exercise, is not healthy. Feeling guilty about taking a day off or not exercising because you are sick is also not healthy.
Exercise should be about health — all aspects of health. It should be about reducing your risk of chronic disease. It should be about staying mobile, flexible and strong enough to go about your daily activities. Exercise should be about feeling proud of yourself and feeling happy within yourself. Exercise should be about the actual experience and joy that comes from exercising, not about an unrealistic body image that is unattainable.
The corporate ladder: it can be lonely at the top!
You have mapped out your career. You have set your goals and you are putting the wheels in motion to climb the corporate ladder. But what if the reality does not live up to your expectations?
For many career-minded people with ambitions of climbing the corporate ladder, making it to the top may seem like the ultimate goal. However, what if that position meant that you were lonelier, more stressed, more anxious and desperately unhappy. Would you aspire to be there?
A double-edged sword
There is nothing wrong with ambition or wanting an executive job. After all, executives often have more challenging and interesting roles, they may get more ‘perks’ and they certainly take home a larger pay packet.
However, a recent CEO Snapshot Survey by Harvard Business Review [1] suggests that 50 per cent of CEOs feel lonely and isolated, and believe it is hampering their performance. When it comes to first-time CEOs, nearly 70 percent of them reported feeling so lonely that it had a negative impact upon their capacity to fulfil their role.
Feeling lonely and isolated can easily lead to burn-out, depression, psychological exhaustion or a complete emotional breakdown.
Yet stressed executives are not speaking up. Anecdotal evidence suggests they feel enormous pressure to perform, they may feel overwhelmed at the responsibility they hold and perhaps even feel that people are ‘looking up to’ them and ‘watching what they do’. There is also the belief that feeling stressed is a sign of weakness or incompetence in doing the job.
Figures from SANE Australia suggest that almost half of Australians who took time off work due to depression did not disclose the reason to their employers. [2] The national study involving more than 1000 workers found that 48 percent of those who didn’t inform their employer of their reason for taking time off felt they would be putting their job at risk to do so.
Mental health in the workplace
According to research conducted in 2011[3] , Australian executives are twice as likely to experience symptoms of mood and personality disorders, as the general population. The study found that between 38 and 40 per cent of the executive population experience psychological distress compared with 20 per cent of the rest of the population.
The study also found that there had been significant increases in anger issues, anxiety, work-related stress and depression.
It found that personality disorders among executives were higher than the normal population. Disorders included narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and in some cases antisocial disorder.
Being a stressed boss also filters throughout the workplace. Workers become less engaged, more miserable and more likely to be the target of bullying behaviour, leading to more sick days taken by employees who are not happy in their jobs.
Researchers of the study believe factors contributing to high levels of stress in executives include highly competitive work environments, increasing pressures to perform and the effects of the global financial crisis.
In addition, executives are less likely to engage in regular exercise, proper nutrition, work-life balance and psychological coping skills — all of which help protect from depression. Their busy schedules also lead them to believe they simply ‘don’t have time’ to look after themselves.
For female executives the problem is exacerbated further by issues of inequality and feeling that their male colleagues ‘simply won’t listen to them’. [4]
What can be done?
It is widely accepted that stress in the workplace is a problem and many workplaces are taking the issue seriously. However, it can be difficult to know just how to tackle the problem, particularly when mental health has a stigma attached to it.
One initiative tackling the problem of mental health in the workplace is Heads Up[5]. An initiative launched by Beyond Blue in conjunction with the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance, it is designed to give individuals and businesses tools, strategies and the latest information to promote a mentally healthy workplace for executives, leaders, managers and employees.
This program is free to join and provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a plan for a mentally healthy workplace, along with tips on how to talk about the issue, how to seek help, and how to support people in the workplace who may be suffering.
According to Heads Up over 6 million working days are lost each year in Australia due to depression. Left untreated, it can have devastating effects for individuals and businesses. In fact, depression is costing Australian workplaces $10.9 billion annually in absenteeism, lost productivity and compensation claims.
However, research by Price Waterhouse Coopers[6] has shown that for every dollar spent on effective interventions to create a mentally healthy workplace, businesses will reap a $2.30 return of investment.
According to the research, interventions should involve:
Raising awareness and reducing stigma
Supporting staff with mental health conditions
Creating a positive working environment.
While executives are often slow to speak up about personal mental health issues , Heads Up believes business leaders can play a key role in creating and maintaining mentally healthy workplaces.
Key actions they can take include being committed to mental health in the workplace; making it an objective of the business or workplace; integrating good health and safety management into all business decisions, policies and procedures; as well as speaking openly about mental health in the workplace.
Supporting and instigating programs designed to shed light on the issue of mental health will not only validate workplace policies and practices to be more mentally healthy, but will help everyone dealing with the effects of depression.
Hopefully, it will also empower executives to take a stand for themselves.
If you or a friend or family member are suffering from depression please call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Choose your words wisely. More often than not, our negative self talk is so unconscious we don't recognise ourselves doing it over and over again.
The good thing is it can be as simple as changing a single letter in a word to change your thought patterns, your attitude and your behaviour.
Let's say you know you need to get out and move more, to exercise and be more fit. Are you going to take time, or are you going to make time? There's a difference.
When you tell yourself you have to take time, you're adding stress. You already get up, feed the kids (and/or the pets), rush to get yourself ready for work, get to work and eat at your desk to get everything done, stay back late, forgot to defrost something for dinner so now you also have to go to the supermarket on the way home, then there's dinner, dishes, clothes washing, your mum called.....aaarrrgh! Like you can take any time to do something else! Something's got to give!
What if you make time? Saying you're going to make time is a lot less pressure. When you make time, you feel more in control of all the things you need to get done. You're not taking time, implying something else has to be sacrificed.
You're making time, meaning you can plan and adjust in a way that is not an extra inconvenience, but rather allows you to have the 'me time' to focus on yourself without the anxiety of having to put something else off.
So watch what you say to yourself.
Don't take time anymore.
Make time to add some exercise or movement into your day and see the difference.
We all know that exercise is an integral part of being healthy, right?
However, what you may not realise, is that exercise is good for the mind as well.
How exercise affects the brain
Numerous studies have proven the benefits of physical exercise on brain function. For example:
• exercising for just 20 minutes, facilitates information processing and memory functions • cardiovascular exercise can create new brain cells (known as neurogenesis) and improve overall brain performance. • exercising regularly into old age may better protect against brain shrinkage (and more ‘senior moments’), than mental or social activities • exercise increases levels of brain-derived proteins (known as BDNF) which are believed to help with decision making, higher thinking and learning. (Physiology Behaviour) • regular exercise increases memory and the ability to learn new things • people who exercise on a regular basis are more productive than those who do not engage in regular activity • creativity levels are boosted for up to two hours, following an aerobic workout. while walking can boost creativity by up to 60 per cent • regular aerobic exercise changes the brain to improve memory and thinking skills (British 2)
Why is exercise so beneficial?
According to Harvard University, exercise is beneficial because it helps reduce insulin resistance and inflammation. It also stimulates the release of growth factors, which protect the health of existing brain cells and assist in the growth of new blood vessels and cells in the brain.
Harvard says that exercise’s ability to improve mood, sleep, stress and anxiety, also has a direct impact upon cognitive function, as problems in these areas have a negative effect on brain function.
Brain HQ adds that different exercises may have different impacts upon the brain. For example, ballroom dancing has a higher impact upon cognitive functioning that some other exercises, because it combines physical and mental demands.
What does it all mean?
Exercise seems to benefit both the body and the mind.
Breaking up your day with some exercise can make it easier for you to concentrate on tasks and be more productive throughout your day. It can also help you problem solve and relieve stress and tension. Being active each day will also mean you are less likely to suffer from a mid-afternoon slump, which often leads to unhealthy food choices.
Tips to exercise while at work
Many people cite lack of time as an excuse not to exercise. However, there are always ways to include activity in your working day. For example:
• commit to a regular exercise class (either before or after work, or even at lunchtime) • go for a walk at lunchtime — you may even wish to start up a walking group • use the stairs where possible • if you commute, get off a stop early and walk the remaining distance (where practical) • cycle or walk to work • take regular breaks from your workstation, even if it is just to use the bathroom • incorporate more movement into your day (e.g. physically get up to talk to a colleague instead of emailing them) • stretch regularly • walk about the office while you are on the phone • walk to the coffee shop for your morning coffee • offer to run errands.
How can employers encourage exercise in the workplace?
If you are an employer, remember those who exercise regularly are more productive, energetic, creative, think better and learn quicker. They are less likely to be stressed or anxious and are likely to take fewer sick days.
So in the interests of work output, and a happier and healthier workplace, why not:
• encourage workers to get up from their desks and move around • ensure workers take a lunchbreak and go for a stroll • set up ‘walking meetings’ rather than ‘coffee meetings’ • offer financial incentives (e.g. salary packaging) for exercise classes or gym memberships • sign up company teams to various events such as fun-runs, charity walks or triathlons • organise a company discount for local facilities such as golf-courses, tennis clubs or gyms • take advantage or outdoor activities for team-building days • incorporate physical activities as part of corporate conferences • allow greater flexibility in the workplace for employees wishing to exercise before or after work • install ‘active desks’ for staff.
While it may take more effort and creativity to increase your exercise levels, the benefits are well worth it. As well as improving your capacity for creativity and sharp thinking, you are also likely to improve your job performance and your career prospects.
Neuroscience, Aerobic exercise is the critical variable in an enriched environment that increases hippocampa neurogenesis and water maze learning in male C57BL/6J mice, ML Mustroph, S Chen, SC Desai, EB Cay, EK De Young, JS Rhodes, 6 September, 2012, 219: pp62-71 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22698691
Neurology, Neuroptrotective lifestyles and the aging brain: Activity, atrophy and white matter integrity, Alan J. Gow, Mark E. Bastin, Susana Muñoz Maniega, Maria C. Valdés Hernández, Zoe Morris, Catherine Murray, Natalie A. Royle, John M. Starr, Ian J. Deary, and Joanna M. Wardlaw, 23 October, 2012, vol 79. No. 17, pp 1802-08, http://www.neurology.org/content/79/17/1802
Physiology and Behaviour, Aerobic exercise improves hippocampal function and increases BDNF in the serum of young adult males, EW Griffin, S Mullally, C Foley, SA WArmington, SM O’Mara, AM Kelly, 24 October 2011; 104 (5) pp934-41
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory, KI Erickson, MW Voss, RS Prakash, C Basak, A Szabo, L Chaddock, JS Kim, S Heo, H Alves, SM White, TR Wojcicki, E Mailey. VJ Vieira, SA Martin, BD Pence, JA Woods, E McAuley, AF Kramer. 15 February 2011; Vol 108 no. 7; pp-3017-22 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21282661
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Employee self-rated productivity and objective organizational production levels: effects of worksite health interventions involving reduced work hours and physical exercise, U von Thiele Schwartz, U Hasson, August 1011, Volume 52 no. 8 pp 838-44 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21785369
British Journal of Sports Medicine, Exercise enhances creativity independently of mood, H Steinberg, EA Sykes, T Moss, S Lowery, N LeBoutillier, A Dewey. September 1997, Volume 31 no. 3 pp240-45, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1332529/
Journal of Experimental Psychology:Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking, Oppezzo, Marily, Scwartz, L Daniel, July 2014 Vol 40. No 4, pp1142-52, http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2014-14435-001/
