You could think knowing your BMI (Body Mass Index) is a thing to overlook.
But those who have walked the road of ignoring this amazing health marker, will tell you; ” hey! do your best to know your BMI”.
Knowing your BMI could save you from these 11 nasty things that we listed here.
Basically, your BMI is your weight in kilograms divided by the square of the your height in metres (kg/m2) (1).
While it is a simple calculation, not many persons know what their figure is or what it should be.
Nasty Things Not Knowing Your BMI Could Cause
If you do not know this all-important health marker here are some things that could happen to you.
1. You Could Gain Excess Weight
One of the very things that are not constant in life is a persons weight and this is so especially when you do nothing to maintain a healthy weight.
If you do not know what your BMI should be, you will not know what you ideal weight should be.
As a result, you will continue to think that all is well even when you are above your ideal weight.
When there is excess weight, it comes with different chronic health situations that you should avoid.
2. You Will Engage More In Unhealthy Habits
Not being sure of what your ideal weight should be, automatically means engaging in more unhealthy habits.
There is a lot that goes with knowing your BMI. One of those is making a choice to know your daily calories need.
When you know this, you will be sure of what to eat and what you should not eat.
It is excess calories that you did not use each day that eventually results in weight gain.
Knowing your BMI also helps you decide to engage in exercise to burn calories and service your heart and arteries.
3. You Put Your Heart In Danger
Not knowing your BMI could expose you to cardiovascular disease.
The heart is the blood pump in your body that carries oxygen to your organs through the blood.
If you have excess fat in your system, chances are that the fat will sneak into your arteries and clog it.
When this happens, the heart will have trouble working fine and this causes health issues.
Your organs will be deprived of adequate blood and oxygen and then gradual death begins.
Poor sexual health like erectile dysfunction could occur in men as a result of the clogging of arteries (2).
Your penis needs a good amount of blood rush to stay hard and strong through the intercourse period.
Also, a study says “obesity is a biomarker for Cardiovascular Diseases such as musculoskeletal disorder, HTN, dyslipidemia, thromboembolic disorders, stroke, coronary artery disease, liver and gall bladder disease, sleep apnea” (3)
4. It Could Lead To Pregnancy Issues
During pregnancy, there are demands that your body makes from your heart, and a poor heart health critically affects the woman’s health at this point.
For instance, a study says in the Untied States, each year, about 700 women in the U.S. die from pregnancy-related problems, and more than 50,000 women have life-threatening pregnancy complications.
Heart and blood vessel conditions, such as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and cardiomyopathy, are leading causes (4).
For this reason, having a great heart health is vital for anyone looking to have babies.
Your weight directly has a relationship with the kind of heart you have.
5. Type-2 Diabetes
Unfortunately, being above your ideal weight is directly linked with diabetes.
When you don’t know your BMI, chances are that you will get to a point where there is a high blood sugar level.
This will further lead to breakdown of other organs in the body.
6. Cancers
Unfortunately, higher amounts of body fat have been linked with increased risks of a number of cancers – thyroid, ovarian, breast, gallbladder, colorectal, pancreatic, meningioma, multiple myeloma, kidney, liver, gastric cardia, esophageal adenocarcinoma, endometrial cancers (5).
Basically, people that are above their ideal weight often have chronic low-level inflammation. This condition, over time, causes a DNA damage that leads to cancer.
According to studies, fat tissue produces excess amounts of estrogen. High level of this hormone has a link with increased risks of breast, endometrial, ovarian, and some other cancers.
Also, fat cells produce adipokines, hormones that may stimulate or inhibit cell growth.
7. High Blood Pressure
Again, people that are above their ideal weight are more prone to having high cholesterol which could cause clogging of arteries.
The clogging of arteries forces the heart to work extra hard to pump blood through it.
This leads to high blood pressure.
When you give attention to what you eat because you do not want to exceed your ideal weight, chances are that you will reduce intake of trans fat.
Trans fat is one major food component that raises cholesterol level. It is the bad guy.
8. Arthritis
Most persons that have complained about arthritis that I know are above their ideal weight and that just points to something.
Highlighting the relationship between being above your ideal weight and arthritis, a study says the most significant impact of obesity on the musculoskeletal system is associated with osteoarthritis (OA).
“It is a disabling degenerative joint disorder characterized by pain, decreased mobility and negative impact on quality of life” (6).
9. Visual Impairment
Another nasty thing that could happen if you ignore the need to know your BMI is that you could have impaired vision.
You Should See This BMI Chart That Makes It Easy To Know Yours
For instance, one of the very organs that high sugar level in the blood could affect is your eyes.
Over time, it can damage the retina — the part of your eye that detects light and sends signals to your brain through a nerve in the back of your eye (7)
10. Fatigue
When organs of the body face deprivation of blood because of fat clogs, they perform poorly, resulting in regular fatigue.
Also, fatigue can arise from your inability to get good sleep, as a result of the excess body weight you carry.
11. Death
Unfortunately, the end result of these conditions, if you do nothing about knowing your BMI is death.
Knowing and doing what it takes to stay within the limit is all you need.
You will ask; did our parents care about BMI? Why did they live so long?
Yes! We will tell you why they lived so long.
The lifestyle and toxins that you are exposed to were not their type in their days.
They were really active people and that is why your aged parent will refuse to stay long in your place when they visit.
A sedentary life which is your daily life is alien to them and they are not ready to yield to it.
They move, but you don’t and as a result your system functions different from theirs.
They do not take fizzy drinks and load their system with sugar, but you do.
Also, they did not use the kind of products you use that mostly have preservatives and other toxic substances.
They were not exposed to radiation from electronic devices as you are.
Do you now see the difference that creates the gap in life expectancy of your parents’ time and now?
Leave a lazy attitude behind and face the things you need to do to stay healthy.
We hope this helps you make the right decision to know your BMI.
Kindly share with your friends and loved ones