Nowadays people are like “I am too busy to tell people how busy I am”. Everyone have so busy life and hectic schedules. And everyday, the world will drag you around yelling this is more important than that. This sickness of being busy is really catastrophic to our health. The effects of our jam-packed lives in which shrinking level of physical activity can be seen in our growing obesity rates. All of this is happening inspite the information surrounding health and nutrition is available in abundance and we are so busy to implement it in a right way. Inconvenience and limited time to exercise and prepare meals or dislike of food preparation and cooking,is shaping many people’s lifestyles today.
I highlighted about the stressful and busy life in the above paragraph. Do you know why? This is because we are going to know brief highlight about Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).Before knowing about what is PCOS I wanted to share some moments that made me realize we have already started the horrible destructive act. Few days ago when I went to my aunt for a visit I found out that family meals have disappeared completely there.Due to working parents they eat more meals away from home or provide foods for their family that have been prepared by restaurants. They are more captivated towards instant and packaged foods.The other incident that I faced is meeting some lovely girls.Being a food lover I am very fond of checking out new restaurants and tasting the dishes. As I was on my table that day, there were some beautiful teenage girls who were worried about their weight and skipping the meals after bingeing on fast food.
Consumption of junk food, sugary foods, etc and irregular eating schedules causes a fluctuation in glucose levels and a hormonal imbalance leading to deposition of fat in the hips and abdomen in particular. The modern habits of eating have resulted in higher incidence of girls having symptoms of Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder (hormone ko gadbadibata hunesambandhit rog) that affects the reproductive system and is considered one of the leading cause of infertility. Nearly 10% of women worldwide of reproductive age group suffer from this. In fact in one of the study conducted by Infertility Centre found out that about 400 patients have PCOS in 1000 patients of reproductive disorder. (http://www.infertilitynepal.com/2012/05/prevalence-of-polycystic-ovarian.html )
The menstrual cycle depends on the interplay of several hormones that need to be produced in the right order. The Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) released by the pituitary gland helps to ripen one of the millions of follicles in a woman ovary every month. The Luetinizing Hormone (LH) causes the follicle to rupture and release an ovum which is picked by the Fallopian tube.
In PCOS , ovaries do not produce sufficient quantities of hormone required for follicles (immature egg) to mature. As a result follicles remain in the ovary and eventually turn into the cysts. These cysts accumulate in the ovary.
A third hormone called progesterone produced by the discarded shell of the follicle in the uterus plays a critical role in initiating the menstrual flow. In women with pcos there is imbalance between FSH which stimulates the ovary to develop an egg, and LH which triggers the ovary to release the egg. The egg ripens but does not rupture. Instead egg starts accumulating in the ovaries as cysts in the ovary as a result ovulation does not occur.
Unruptured follicles start producing male hormone such as testosterone which causes acne, male pattern baldness, and obesity and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the body’s inability to absorb insulin and use it to break down carbohydrates. Even though insulin levels are normal the tissues do not respond to the insulin. Whatever carbohydrates are consumed gets converted into fat rather into energy which leads to obesity.
Although, PCOS results due to a genetic predisposition, reducing menstrual irregularity and hormonal imbalance due to PCOS by adopting healthy eating habits and physical activity is possible. Noone have any magical solutions. All we know is that we are losing the ability to live a truly human life. We just need a meaningful life, a sense of well being, a balanced existence.
P.S. Solutions to make more healthful food choices should be a priority.
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