Ageing and Obesity in the United States

Ageing and Obesity in the United States

In this paper I hope to show how aging and obesity effects the United States and how much of problem it is these days and also I will show what scientists are predicting and what new advancements in healthcare will be a big help in addressing these two issues.

Ageing

        The age framework of a society has an effect on the nations more important socioeconomic concerns.  The framework of ages can be a huge assistance in predicting political concerns.  One example is the fast growing rate of young adults will make it harder for people to find employment.

        The United States is the third country with the most population.  The United States is around 4.5% of the population of the whole world.  The population of the United State is around 308.7 million people.  That number more than doubles the population in 1950 which was around 152.3 million people.  We are growing from the increase of babies being born, less amounts of death, and an increase of immigration to the United States.  Census predicts that population will keep increasing to around 440 million people by  the year 2050.

        In the year 2009 there was 39.6 million aged 65 or older.  That is basically one out of every 8 americans.  By the year 2030 if predictions are correct there should be around 72.1 million people age 65 or older.

        At first everybody was saying the population of the United States will decrease in ten to twenty years from now.  This reason is due to the number of  baby boomers.  Baby boomers come from the end of World War 2.  These people are getting older and older.  Now in the situation the United States is facing (an extreme chance of a World War 3) some predictions are that there is going to be a chance for a whole new population of baby boomers.  So as you can see it is very hard now to predict the increase or decrease of the United States population.  In other words, if we do have a World War 3 it is more than likely that the population of  the United States will increase, but if there is no War World 3 than it is highly likely that the population will decrease.  It is just a matter of waiting in order to predict if the population will increase or decrease.

        Research shows that environmental factors play a very big role in issues like Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease.  Having a poor diet, not getting enough exercise, breathing in the toxic chemicals and other forms of pollutants, and stress can change the biochemical path to another path that raises the risk of these two diseases.  The environment also causes things such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome.  By changing these factors for diseases will be largely reduced.  Where and how we live, eat, work, play, and socialize has an effect on physical and mental illnesses through life.