Is Bariatric Surgery The Only Cure For Obesity?

People’s lifestyles have changed significantly in the last few decades due to developments in many spheres of life. Although modified living styles are practical and up-to-date, they can raise the risk of a number of illnesses. Obesity lies at the top of the list in this regard. It’s emerging as a worldwide issue. Despite knowing the possible complications, people seem reluctant to use surgical treatments for obesity. These may include bariatric surgery to cure obesity. Thanks to social media platforms, misconceptions regarding medical procedures are becoming less common, but still, there is a lot to understand. 

Bariatric surgeries are excellent medical procedures that can make unbelievable transformations in your life. These are valuable not only because of their aesthetic value but due to their impact on your health. In this article, we will focus on the role of bariatric surgery as a cure for obesity and compare it with other ways of obesity management.

Understanding Obesity And Its Impact

Body mass index (BMI) is a tool that calculates the amount of fat in an individual’s body. A person with an excessive amount of body fat with a BMI of 30 or higher lies in the category of obese people. The reasons for the condition may vary, including genetics, a bad diet, an unhealthy lifestyle, environmental factors or hormonal imbalances. Obesity results in a wide range of health effects since it increases the risk of severe conditions like heart disease, hypertension, and stroke. 

Obesity can affect mental health in addition to physical health because of social and cultural factors that raise the risk of anxiety, hopelessness, and low self-esteem. All the discussion explains how obesity can act as a prime source of multiple diseases and poor mental conditions, hence resulting in low life quality.  

Watch this Video to Find out if Bariatric surgery is the only Cure for Obesity

Delve into the debate around bariatric surgery as a treatment for obesity. Learn about other available options, success stories, and expert recommendations for managing weight effectively

Adopting The Non-Surgical Alternatives

Despite continuous developments in surgical treatments, people often want to avoid surgeries due to their complexity. The same is true in the case of obesity. However, various non-surgical treatments can help with obesity. However, their effectiveness is still a question. Additionally, these are temporary solutions.

Moreover, various non-surgical treatment methods require more dedication and time. Furthermore, these non-invasive treatments may help individuals lose approximately 5 per cent to a maximum of 15 per cent of their overall body weight, which is not a reasonable weight reduction for obese people. Here are some highlights that explain the limited effectiveness of non-surgical methods.

1. Slower Weight Loss:

Lifestyle changes, including diets and exercises, bring about a slow and gradual shift in the weight loss process. However, it often poses a challenge, especially for individuals suffering from health complications that compel them to lose considerable weight.

2. Weight Regain:

The other drawback of non-surgical weight loss procedures is that many patients actually regain the weight they lost. Most people struggle to maintain the necessary changes for a long-term commitment to their diet, but small negligence can make the efforts useless.

4. Requires Ongoing Commitment

Some of these treatments are lifelong, with a need to change one’s diet, exercise and possibly take medication, which is not easy to do. Hence, it is just like doing a lifetime job without any breaks.

5. Less Impact On Obesity-Related Conditions:

Diets and exercises, though, help in improving obesity-associated diseases but are usually not very effective, especially when it comes to the reversal of diseases like type 2 diabetes.

How Can Bariatric Surgery Make A Difference In Your Life?

Indeed, surgical procedures help people by changing their lives in different ways. However, hesitation is often due to unawareness about the effectiveness of surgeries. Thus, people also prefer non-surgical methods without understanding their limitations.  

Bariatric surgery works efficiently when conventional, non-surgical alternatives to weight loss have not been adequate. Surgery is a permanent cure for obesity and provides longstanding outcomes. Here are some significant advantages of surgical procedures that prove surgery is only a cure for obesity.

1. Highly Advanced Techniques

Most weight loss surgeries use minimal skills, such as the laparoscopic technique, which takes little time to complete. This technique is a minimally invasive procedure. It entails minor surgeries on the abdominal area in which a laparoscope, in which there is a tubular structure with a camera. Laparoscopy has several advantages: there is a short recovery time, and there are minimal skin bruises. 

Bariatric surgery should be supported because it leads to a significant loss in weight. Studies have also shown that with adequate care, patients can shed 50% to 70% of their excess weight within the initial two years of a surgical procedure, which in turn boosts their liveliness and improves their overall quality of life.

3.  Improved Mobility

Undoubtedly, obese people face great difficulty in physical movements such as active walking. Weight loss surgeries like sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass Reduce the physical strain that excess weight causes on the body. Hence, bariatric surgery can greatly increase a patient’s mobility. Improving balance with weight loss also makes physical activity easier and less taxing. Patients’ ability to exercise regularly improves with increased mobility, which helps them with permanent weight management.  

4.  Better Sleep Quality

Being overweight can interfere with breath when you’re sleeping, especially around your neck and airway. Surgery for weight reduction significantly helps with poor sleep quality by treating obesity-related disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea.  Hence, all discussion explains that surgery only cures obesity and can do wonders for your health.                                                                                                         

5. Prevention Of Obesity-Related Health Issues

Bariatric surgery results in substantial weight loss. Hence, patients undergoing surgery can enjoy it as a protective shield against the following diseases;

• Hypertension:

Obese or overweight people are easy targets for hypertension. It can damage multiple organs of the body. Hence, surgery plays a vital role in preventing hypertension and related issues.

• Heart Health:

Getting rid of fat guarantees stable blood pressure and hence prevents cardiovascular issues. Improving heart health upgrades your overall health status.

• Joint Health:

Obesity can be a significant cause of various joint problems. By controlling weight issues, surgery reduces the risk of joint damage.

Conclusion

To sum up, obesity is a lifetime disease, and it thus requires personalized lifelong management. Bariatric surgery is an excellent treatment choice for weight loss for several reasons. Although people try some other treatments, including diet modification, exercise, and drugs, all these are less effective than surgical procedures. These treatments may require a lot of time and energy to lose a significant amount of weight.

On the other hand, the surgical method targets the source of the disease and is, hence, more effective. It gives instant weight loss up to a reasonable percentage. Thus, it improves mobility, boosts deep sleep, and prevents many other medical issues. Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that surgery is the only cure for obesity.