Obesity In Harlem: Lack Of Physical Activities

Obesity in Harlem Name: Institution: Course: Date: Obesity in Harlem There is a trend among the African Americans and one that is associated with obesity. This is a community that has been plagued by obesity for quite some time and there have been quite a number of researches that have been conducted to determine the reason for the same. Most of the research point to the genetic factor while others point to the social economic factors such as low income. New York according to the Stateofobesity.org is currently ranked number seven lowest in the nation when it comes to obesity. Obesity among the adults, New York has an estimated 25.5% as of 2017, this down 17.1 in 2000 and 9.3 in 1990 (The State of Obesity, 2018). There are other states that have some very significant levels starting with West Virginia which comes in at number one with 37.7%, Mississippi is second with 37.3%, Alabama is third with 35.7% and Louisiana comes in at number of five with 35.5%. Of interest in this paper is the population of Harlem and the impact that obesity has had African America society ("Adult Obesity in the United States - The State of Obesity", 2018). This paper concentrates on the lack of physical activities among the Harlem dwellers and the impact it has on their health relative to growing figures in obesity. While the aspect of gene poor does have some significant impact on the obesity rates among the US born African Americans, for the Harlem dwellers, lack of physical activities is also a crucial factor. The African American population is one that has been affected by the obesity for quite some time and much of the research has pointed to the fact that, there are genetic inclination to this. However there is also the issue of social economic issues (Fox, Mann, Ramos, Kleinman & Horowitz, 2012). For the African Americans living in Harlem, there is a challenge especially for those that are living in east Harlem. Physical activity is one of the ways that one is able to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Through physical activity, it is easy for the society to reduce the chances of developing lifestyle diseases that have become prominent in the current society; of interest is the impact that this has on obesity prone individuals, through weight control. Much of the community that lives in east Harlem is from the low income tier. This is a community that is dominated by African Americans and Latinos. East Harlem happens to be one of the places with a high prevalence of obesity mortality in the New York (Fox, Mann, Ramos, Kleinman & Horowitz, 2012). What is more important though is the fact that, it is also associated with insufficient resources to cope with element of physical activities. More to this is the fact that, this is a community that does not have enough resources to deal with issues even relating to nutrition, epidemics, social and environment. According to the survey, one of the aspects that comes out of this is that the build environment is believed to play a crucial role in the health di...