Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 19/02/2021 05:58:24

Title: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 19/02/2021 05:58:24
-Do fat people have a better chance of surviving when camping trips go wrong in the mountains?
-Do fat people tend to survive more often in car crashes?
-Although fat people obviously put more weight strain on their heart, they rarely, if ever, put strain on their heart through forced regurgitation.
-Are fat people less likely to drown? (due to having more surface area, making it much easier for them to float)
-Are fat people usually more jolly than skinny people?
-They don't stress themselves about what they can and cannot eat?
-They tend to be better at multi-tasking due to their penchant for eating and doing everything at the same time?
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: evan_au on 19/02/2021 07:06:17
Quote from: OP
Are fat people less likely to drown? (due to having more surface area...
Surface area does not help with flotation (unless you are a hydrophobic insect that can be buoyed up by surface tension).
- What matters is density
- fat is slightly less dense that water (90%)
- muscle is slightly more dense than water (110%)
- Which means a person with more fat has to work less hard to keep their head above water
- and a fat person is better insulated, so may be less likely to suffer hypothermia in the ocean
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: scarlettzou on 29/06/2021 07:19:38
Interesting question
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: Bored chemist on 29/06/2021 08:34:28
They don't stress themselves about what they can and cannot eat?
?
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 29/06/2021 17:54:13
Insulation, the tubbier you are the less you feel the cold, the less energy you have to create to maintain body temperature.
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: Bored chemist on 29/06/2021 18:21:50
In case anyone was wondering...
https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/fbchecks/no-5-inches-fat-wont-stop-bullet-hitting-vital-organs
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: alancalverd on 30/06/2021 00:01:51
...but it will slow it down! Boston police statistics show

Quote
Compared to small-caliber [.22 - .32] gun violence, victims dying from medium-caliber assaults are 2.3 times higher. Fatalities from large-caliber guns [.357 magnum and larger] are 4.5 times higher than small-caliber shootings.

Ah, the joys of momentum versus viscosity.
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: evan_au on 30/06/2021 09:08:18
Quote from: Petrochemicals
the tubbier you are the less you feel the cold
Maybe not...  The fat insulates the temperature sensors in your skin from the heat sources in your body core.
- So perhaps people with more insulation feel the cold more intensely?

In reality, how much you feel the cold has a lot more to do with the climate in which you grew up.
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: Bored chemist on 30/06/2021 11:31:26
In reality, how much you feel the cold has a lot more to do with the climate in which you grew up.
And the recent weather.
20C feels warm in May, but cold in September
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: Bored chemist on 30/06/2021 11:31:55
...but it will slow it down! Boston police statistics show

Quote
Compared to small-caliber [.22 - .32] gun violence, victims dying from medium-caliber assaults are 2.3 times higher. Fatalities from large-caliber guns [.357 magnum and larger] are 4.5 times higher than small-caliber shootings.

Ah, the joys of momentum versus viscosity.
It also give the shooter a bigger target to aim at.
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 30/06/2021 18:17:08
Quote from: Petrochemicals
the tubbier you are the less you feel the cold
Maybe not...  The fat insulates the temperature sensors in your skin from the heat sources in your body core.
- So perhaps people with more insulation feel the cold more intensely?

In reality, how much you feel the cold has a lot more to do with the climate in which you grew up.
That is a reasonable point. Plus the fact that your skin does not multiply as you increace in surface area, but stretches and the blood vessels are likewise reduced. This would reduce the heating to the skin also.
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: CliffordK on 01/07/2021 10:50:59
A lot will depend on how fat, how skinny, how muscular, etc for comparisons.  Fitness in general?

I  believe there is some benefit of having a slight "buffer".  So, if you get so sick that you can't eat for a week, then it is best not to start out with skin and bones.

On the other hand, if you are so obese that you can't move without a mobility scooter and you survive a plane crash in the middle of the Amazon Jungle, you may not fare well. 

Obesity can be hard on knee and foot joints. 

And, many people who are obese are also less active than their more slender brethren, thus more likely to develop cardiac and other problems.

As far as counting calories, those individuals who are more active also burn more calories, and thus don't have to worry as much about a snack or desert.
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: benvong on 01/07/2021 15:06:06
A very interesting question. From my own experience, I can say that being overweight only interferes.
Title: Re: Are there positive aspects to being fat?
Post by: alancalverd on 03/07/2021 18:05:27
Worth looking at the top shelf of your local seedy newsagent. Among the "glamour" and "men's" magazines, you will not find a single one devoted to skinny women - they only populate the shelves of women's magazines - but quite a few proclaiming the attractiveness of the larger lady.

So if you are a woman hoping to appeal to men, "plenty" is a safer bet than "not enough".