A new report published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology challenges the conventional definition of obesity, and urges a shift from the reliance on Body Mass Index (BMI) to a more nuanced approach. This is supported by over 50 global medical experts. The report also recommends splitting the term "obesity" into two categories: "Clinical obesity" and "Pre-clinical obesity". This aims to improve diagnosis and treatment for over a billion people worldwide living with obesity.

Clinically Obese

This applies to individuals whose obesity has progressed to a disease state, manifesting in organ damage, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or other health complications. These individuals could also experience symptoms like breathlessness, joint pain, or impaired daily functioning. Treatment also involves medical interventions, including weight-loss medications or surgery.

Pre-Clinic Obese

Whereas the term "pre-clinic obese" refers to those who are overweight but not yet exhibiting health issues. While they may be at risk of developing obesity-related conditions, their organ function and overall health remain intact. What they need is preventive care, which includes dietary guidance, counselling, and regular monitoring to avoid and reduce future health risks.

What does the study say?

The study, led by Professor Francesco Rubino from King's College London emphasizes that obesity is not one-size-fits-all condition. This means it should rather be treated as a spectrum as some individuals maintain normal organ function despite being classified as obese. There are others who may face severe health complications too. However, the current method of calculating obesity based on BMI often leads to misdiagnosis or inadequate care.

The report also states that BMI, while is useful for analyzing population trends, is a flawed unit of measuring individual health. Therefore, there is a need to redefine obesity, and healthcare professionals can provide more precise care by distinguishing those who need immediate medical intervention and those who require preventive strategies.

Limitations of BMI, Why It Falls Short?

BMI is used to classify individuals as underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese based on their height and weight. It is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by health in meters squared. However, there are reasons while it falls short.

•Muscle vs Fat: Athletes or muscular individuals often have high BMIs despite the low body fat

•Fat Distribution: BMI does not measure fat around the waist or organs, which could be more dangerous to one's health.

•Individual Health Variation: It also overlooks the specific health conditions such as heart diseases or diabetes, or any other, while evaluating a person's category in terms of weight.

ALSO READ: Is It Time To Say Goodbye To BMI?

Scope Of Study

By redefining obesity, the study could transform the approach to diagnosis and treatment. It can focus on individual health risks rather than BMI alone. Healthcare providers can also offer tailored care. This also will ensure hat weight-loss medications like Wegovy or Mounjaro are prescribed only to those who genuinely require it.

As per Professor Louise Baur from the University of Sydney, a Children's obesity expert said that this redefinition allows both adults and children to receive more appropriate care while reducing over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatments.

Many in their late 30s and early 40s find themselves Googling weird stuff, including 'why am I having a tingling feelin in my arm?' 'why do I feel like something is brushing across my arm?', and more. This is what many call a phantom feeling arm, which means there is nothing actually tickling, but you feel it anyway. Medically, it is known as paresthesia, a tingling feeling or numb sensation, usually what people refer to as the pins and needles sensation. This is caused by temporary pressure on a nerve or any underlying nerve damage issue.

If you look up anything like that, many women claimed, it instantly shows: perimenopause.

Despite an increased awareness around it, perimenopause and menopause still remain a taboo. In a survey, it was found that 54 per cent of women were concerned about the uncertainty they are about to face in their perimenopause and menopause period.

Menopause is not just hot flashes, it is much more than that. Dr Mahima Gulati, an endocrinologist at UConn Health points out symptoms like gaining weight despite "doing everything right", brain fog, aching joints, sleepless nights, exhausting days, and depleted energy. She says "These symptoms are real. This is not something women are imagining, and it is not just aging. There are real biological changes happening, and women deserve evidence based care and support as they move through them."

What Can Help Women Dealing With Menopause and Perimenopause?

Before going into the solution, let us first understand what these term really mean.

Perimenopause: It is the period when a menstruator transitions to menopause, or when the period stops permanently. This phase is characterized by fluctuating hormone levels, irregular periods, which could be shorter, longer, heavier, or lighter, hot flashes, sleep problems and mood changes.

Menopause: This is the natural, permanent end of menstruation defined as 12 consecutive months without a period. This typically occurs between ages 45 to 55.

What Can Help In Menopause And Perimenopause?

Form Connections

“For women to sit in a room and realize they are not alone is incredibly therapeutic. Connection itself reduces the burden of chronic conditions,” points out Dr Gulati.

The doctor points out that women often learn from each others’ experience and this is why social connections are extremely important in this time.

Pay Attention On Sleep

Sleep problems are one of the most common and exhausting symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Hormonal changes can disrupt deep sleep, causing women to wake up in the early hours, deal with night sweats, and struggle to fall back asleep. When this happens regularly, it leads to severe energy drain, not just tiredness.

To improve sleep, Gulati focuses on simple, practical habits. These include keeping a regular sleep schedule, avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evening, reducing screen time after 7 p.m., keeping phones out of the bedroom, and practicing calming activities like yoga or meditation. Drinking enough water during the day can also help regulate body temperature at night and reduce hot flashes.

Managing Stress Differently

Instead of trying to eliminate stress, which is often unrealistic, Gulati encourages women to change how they respond to it. Stress is treated as a signal to reassess priorities, set boundaries, and ask for support when needed. This shift helps build resilience and prevents burnout.

Movement Beyond Exercise

Physical activity becomes especially important in midlife, but it’s not just about workouts. Strength training helps protect muscles and bones, while regular movement throughout the day, balance exercises, and flexibility work support long-term health. Reducing long sitting hours is just as important as planned exercise.

Reducing Harmful Habits

Gulati also advises cutting back on alcohol and avoiding tobacco. After menopause, alcohol can worsen sleep, increase belly fat, and raise the risk of conditions like breast cancer and osteoporosis. Limiting late-night screen use can further improve sleep quality.

Eating to Support the Body

Nutrition is another key focus. Rather than aiming for perfection, Gulati encourages small, steady improvements like eating more vegetables and protein, staying hydrated, and choosing foods that may ease menopausal symptoms. The goal is better energy, sleep, and overall health, not just weight loss.

Glaucoma is an umbrella term for a group of eye diseases that create pressure inside your eyeball, which can damage delicate, critical parts at the back of your eye, including the optic nerve.

While most of the diseases are progressive, meaning they gradually get worse and eventually cause permanent vision loss and blindness. In fact, glaucoma is the second-leading cause of blindness worldwide and is the leading cause of blindness for people over 60 years old.

Dr Niteen Dedhia, Medical Director, Ojas Maxivision Eye Hospital tells Business Standard: "Glaucoma slowly and quietly causes damage to the optic nerve. Changes in eye pressure, blood flow and nerve fibres occur over time, while the brain often compensates for the loss.

"As a result, symptoms go unnoticed, and by the time vision loss becomes apparent, the damage is usually permanent."

Many forms of glaucoma have no warning signs and the effect is extremely gradual, to the point that you may not notice a change in vision until the condition is in its late stages.

Here are some symptoms that mid-age people need to keep an eye out for:

1. Gradual loss of circumferential vision

One of the earliest symptoms of glaucoma is damage and subsequent loss of peripheral vision. Dr Dedhia noted: “Glaucoma starts by damaging the peripheral vision but doesn’t affect the centre (front) vision."

If you seem to struggle with spotting objects approaching from the side or bump into things more often, you may be experiencing early stages of the disease and not merely experiencing normal ageing.

2. Difficulty seeing or reading in the dark or low light settings

3. Frequent changes in eye power

Dr Neeraj Sanduja, Ophthalmologist, Eye Surgeon at Viaan Eye Centre, Gurgaon told the publication: "Needing frequent prescription changes or feeling that glasses 'never feel quite right' may reflect subtle visual field changes caused by glaucoma rather than simple refractive error progression."

4. Eye pressure or unusual discomfort

Open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the condition that causes patchy blind spots in your side vision, is often painless or limited to a mild sense of pressure or heaviness in the eyes.

Those suffering from open-angle glaucoma may notice a dull ache after prolonged screen time or reading that improves with rest. Frequently mistaken as regular eye strain, it is often ignored, however, may indicate subtle increases in eye pressure that require professional evaluation.

5. Frequent headaches with eye strain

Frequent headaches, especially when accompanied by eye strain or blurred vision, should not be ignored as migraine pain as it may signal rising eye pressure or early glaucoma changes, Dr Dedhia warns.

Who Is at Risk for Glaucoma?

Certain groups of people have a higher than normal risk of getting glaucoma which includes those who:

• have high eye pressure
• are farsighted or nearsighted
• have had an eye injury
• use long-term steroid medications
• have corneas that are thin in the center
• have thinning of the optic nerve
• have diabetes, migraines, high blood pressure, poor blood circulation or other health problems affecting the whole body
• are over age 40
• have family members with glaucoma
• are of African, Hispanic, or Asian heritage

Abnormal sleeping patterns, whether excessive or brief, can significantly increase your risk of developing chronic liver disease, an EMJ study suggests.

Sleep duration has previously been linked to worsening your chances of Type 2 diabetes; obesity; cardiovascular diseases including hypertension, stroke, heart attack; mental disorders such as depression, anxiety; weakened immune system and potentially contributing to neurological conditions such as dementia.

However, researchers have now also found that sleep disruption may intensify existing stress on the liver which can worsen metabolism and pave the way for disease progression.

The authors noted that poor sleeping habits may influence liver health for multiple reasons including by altering glucose metabolism, increasing inflammation and disrupt circadian rhythms that regulate liver function.

"Participants who reported consistently short sleep duration were more likely to have elevated liver enzymes and higher fibrosis risk scores compared with those reporting moderate sleep duration. Long sleep duration was also associated with adverse liver markers, though the relationship was weaker than that observed for short sleep," the study noted.

Despite discovering links, the involved researchers noted that the study only highlighted sleep as a potential factor that could worsen liver function along with other lifestyle reasons and did not act as a clear cause.

Why Is Chronic Liver Disease A Concern?

Once a rare condition, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) now affects one in three Indians. A JAMA study has now found that about 40 percent of the global population is now suffering from NAFLD, with abdominal obesity identified as its single biggest risk factor.

Researchers found that nearly 70 percent of people with Type 2 diabetes and about 80 percent of those with obesity are affected by NAFLD. They also discovered that NAFLD prevalence is higher in men than in women, with rates of 15,731 per 100,000 population in men compared with 14,310 in women.

READ MORE: This Deadly Liver Disease Is Affecting People In Their 20s And This One Symptom Is The Red Flag

Between 2010 and 2021, India recorded a 13.2 percent increase in age-standardized prevalence, ranking just behind China at 16.9 percent and Sudan at 13.3 percent. Additionally, the disease peaks earlier in men, between 45 and 49 years of age, while women show the highest prevalence between 50 and 54 years.

NAFLD, now called as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), is when excess fat builds up in the liver, unrelated to heavy alcohol use, due to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol.

It ranges from simple fat accumulation to inflammation and damage, which can progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis or liver cancer, The disease often has no symptoms and is managed with lifestyle changes such as diet and weight loss.

Why Is NAFLD on the rise?

Poor diets (high carbs/sugar), sedentary habits and rising obesity are some of the key reasons why an uptick in NAFLD cases has been seen pan-India. Increased intake of refined carbs, sugary drinks, processed foods and unhealthy fats can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol which can pave the way for this liver disease.

Experts also note that working long hours at desks without any proper physical activity can lead to weight gain and fat accumulation in the liver.

According to the Union Health Ministry, the prevalence of the condition could be in the range of 9-53 percent. Multiple other health studies also suggest nearly 40 percent of urban Indians may have some form of fatty liver disease

Hepatologist Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as LiverDoc on social media, noted on X that many patients do not realize that timely lifestyle changes can completely reverse the condition. “All it takes is being in charge of your body and health. No shortcuts—go slow and steady,” he wrote.

If left untreated, NAFLD can progress to Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), where liver inflammation begins. Over time, this inflammation can lead to scarring of the liver, known as fibrosis. Advanced fibrosis results in cirrhosis, which severely affects liver function.

NAFLD can also increase the risk of chronic liver disease, liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma. Many patients diagnosed with liver cancer have a history of untreated fatty liver.