The New Scientist presents The 10 roads to Fatsville:
- Not enough sleep
- Climate control
- Less smoking
- Prenatal effects
- Fat equals fecund
- A little older…
- More drugs
- Pollution
- Mature mums
- Like marrying like
How have things changed over the years? On the first point, Not enough sleep:
In 1960 people in the US slept an average of 8.5 hours per night. A 2002 poll by the National Sleep Foundation suggests that the average has fallen to under 7 hours. According to Spiegel, the decline in sleep is mirrored by the increase in obesity.
On the second point, Climate control:
Keeping warm and staying cool take energy unless we are in the “thermoneutral zone” — around 27 °C for a naked body — which is increasingly where we choose to live and work.There’s no denying that ambient temperatures have changed in the past few decades. Between 1970 and 2000, the average British home warmed from a chilly 13 °C to 18 °C. In the US, the changes have been at the other end of the thermometer as the proportion of homes with air conditioning rose from 23 to 47 per cent between 1978 and 1997. In the southern states — where obesity rates tend to be highest — the number of houses with air con has shot up to 70 per cent from 37 per cent in 1978.