obesity

Obesity is the accumulation of excess body fat to a degree that harms health, and the heart is one of its main casualties. It is not merely a matter of weight on a scale: fat tissue, especially around the abdomen and organs, is metabolically active and sends out signals that disturb blood pressure, blood sugar and lipids.

It is commonly screened with body mass index (weight relative to height), though waist size and body composition add important detail because where fat sits matters more than the total. Obesity raises cardiovascular risk both indirectly — by promoting high blood pressure, diabetes, dyslipidemia and sleep apnoea — and directly, by increasing the heart's workload and contributing to heart failure and atrial fibrillation.

An honest nuance: weight is shaped by genetics, environment, hormones and circumstance, not willpower alone, and BMI is an imperfect measure that can misclassify muscular or older people. Even modest, sustained weight loss can meaningfully improve blood pressure, glucose and lipids, so the goal is healthier metabolism, not a number on a chart.