BIM or Body Mass Index, in short, is a definite method to measure body size. In other words, it is an estimate of body size based on the height and weight of a person. However, body mass index can not be used for screening fat as well as accounting for ages, ethnicity, and muscles of adults directly. Thus, you have to use an equation for better results instead. In other words, body mass index can partly show your health whether you are overweight, underweight or medium.
In case you have got a high BMI, it means there is too much fat in your body than it expects. And, this sign tells you that you are unhealthy because you are around with some health risks like heart attack, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
In fact, the body mass index casually shows the relationship between the height and weight of children and adults. It also can be used for diagnosing the diabesity levels in the hospital nowadays. However, it also has its own limit, so it would be better if you should not believe in its result totally.
How is BMI Calculated?
BIM can be simply calculated by using the metric system or mathematical formula. If it is calculated with the metric system, the formula for BMI will take account into weight in kilograms divided by height in centimeters, then multiplying the result by 10,000,000 to get the last result.
Moreover, Body mass index is also calculated by using tables when it matches height in inches to weight in pounds. You are able to get some simple and convenient IBM calculators when you browse some websites on the internet also.
The formula is:
BMI = Weight (KG) ÷ Height (Metres²)
A person who is supposed to have a normal weight range if he has a BMI score which falls between 18.5 and 24.9. And, the BMI chart will be used to diagnose a person’s health if he is obese, overweight, normal or underweight.
What Does Your BMI Mean?
Now, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines the connection between the BIM and people’s health. You can recognize your body situation by looking at the traditional height/weight chart. BMI is a crucial index to let you know if you are underweight, normal, overweight or obese.
Your BMI is clarified into 6 levels:
- Less than 18.5: Underweight:
- 18.5 – 24.9: Normal Weight
- 25 – 29.9: Overweight
- 30 – 34.9: Obesity (Class 1)
- 35 – 39.9: Obesity (Class 2)
- 40+: Extreme Obesity (Class 3)
It is important to remain an ideal weight to have good health. According to WHO, you can easily to get risks if your BIM is less than 18.5 ( underweight ) or over 25 ( overweight ). And, it is really terrible if you are obese or overweight because you are around with several serious chronic diseases like diabetes, osteoarthritis along with endometrial, breast and colon cancer. Therefore, you have to be careful if you notice that your weight is increasing slightly.
Some Exceptions To The BMI Rule
The big question of BMI rule is “ Why does BMI become an exception for some group?”.
BIM does not show you much difference between muscle mass, body fat as well as children and adults. There are some exceptions to the BMI that you should know to get a better understanding.
People who are athletes or sporters will have more muscles than others because they need more energy for doing sweating activities. Thus, their BMI can be higher, but they are not overweight.
The disabled people are not capable to walk or carry things. They will have muscle wasting more than normal people. In fact, their BMI can be lower, but it is not a problem that affects their health. And, it does not mean that they are underweight.
Recently, children and teenagers are growing up really fast. Thus, it is tough to make a standard BMI for them. Casually, the BMI for people at the ages of 8 to 16 is between 18.5 and 24.5. If your children have a high BMI, you should give them a hand in order to control their weight better.
Obesity is usually diagnosed among shorter people instead of the taller ones. Therefore, BMI will be never good guidance for adults who are less than 150 cm or over 190 cm tall.
The Importance of Having a Healthy Weight
Need to Maintain a Healthy Weight
As you know, a good looking body can not tell you that you are healthy. The important thing is to keep your weight healthily or to have a normal BMI because of healthy weight affects your overall health. If you have a strict schedule of eating and doing exercise, you can get a normal BMI in no time without breaking a sweat. Having a good BMI helps you reduce the risk of some serious health problems. if you are overweight, you should eat healthily, do lots of strength exercises and go on a diet if needed. Otherwise, if you are underweight, you have to eat more and do exercise less to gain weight easily.
Negative Effects of Being Overweight
Obese people compared to those with a normal or healthy weight, are closer to increase the serious health risks as well as health conditions.
- Get cancer
According to research in postmenopausal women by Munsell, the number of women who get breast cancer because of being obesity increases by 20-40%. Sometimes, the excess abdominal fat can increase your risk by over 43%.
- Infertility
Infertility is defined as the main reason to stop you from being pregnant and having an unsteady period and ovulation. a normal BMI between 20 and 24 is perfect for fertility according to health expert suggestion. There are more than 12% of fertility problems caused by weight problems like being overweight or underweight.
- Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
According to a study with Korean students in April 2014, there are more than 15,000 students do not know the causes of heart disease which is related to weight problems. The study shows that people with a BMI of over 25 would have greater heart disease than the others who have a normal BMI.
- Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is the most popular type of diabetes nowadays. There are over 422 million adults who lived with diabetes in 2014 according to WHO research entitled Global Report on Diabetes. The rate of obesity has risen quickly in the next years. There is no doubt that obesity a reason causes 85% of developing type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is so dangerous if you are overweight or obese because you are 80 times more to develop diabetes than the ones who have a BMI under 22.
- Have Troubles with a Life Expectancy
Being obese can affect your longevity in bad ways. One study of more than two thousand people in America shows that the death rate of a person relates to BMI. Normally, the risks of death increase by 30% for every 33 pounds of excess weight you have. People who have BMI at over 40, can perhaps live 8 to 10 years less compared to the ‘normal’ BMI range people.
Problems Come From Being Underweight
If you think that being underweight can not cause health conditions, then you are definitely making things wrongly. In fact, having underweight can terribly impact people’s health in bad ways because it can decline your health so fast. If your BMI is under 18.5, you should change your habits in eating, training, taking medicines or doing exercises to gain weight as soon as possible.
In 2014, there is over 1.4% of American adults are underweight according to health research of DOC. The rate of underweight students is not as bad as the obese portion. However, these students also get so many health problems associated with low BMI scores.
- Immune Function is Decreased
Some scientists gave a review of the risk of high and low BMI scores relate to the immune function of human. The review showed us the close connection between being underweight and increased infections. Malnourishment is the main factor that reduces the immune system constantly. So, you should take care of yourself better to improve the situation.
- Malnutrition
Malnutrition is not completely caused by eating or drinking too little. In fact, it describes insufficient nutrients that your body is unable to take when food gets into your stomach. You can 100% have some symptoms like fatigue or hair loss if your body is not fueled enough. Hence, you should know malnutrition well to avoid unexpected affections to your health.
- Risk of Osteoporosis
Being underweight increases more risk of osteoporosis than being overweight. Having fat issues is the key reason that causes fewer estrogen levels on the bones, risk of hip fractures, less fat to cushion people’s falls. A recent study in premenopausal women shows that people with a BMI below 18.5 had low bone mass density than women with a BMI above 18.5 in the same issue.
Conclusion
All in all, I think you have got enough useful information about BMI by standing by and reading this review. To me, BMI is a key thing to show your health situation. So, you should spend time to listen to your body and keep it healthily always. To avoid getting serious illnesses, you should calculate Body mass index so often and set up good habits to control your weight well.
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