Child Obesity
The children of today are becoming more obese, for the fact that they
are
obtaining laziness. They are spending more time in front of the
television then
they are getting their daily exercise. Their growing bodies
need exercise to
lose baby fat before it gets to be a serious problem. The
growth of technology
has formed a major impact on the obesity of today`s
children. This technology
has substituted normal childhood play exercises
with computer games that take
less physical effort. Because of technology in
today's society the problem with
child obesity has become tremendously
intensified. First, what is child obesity?
The term child obesity means a
child is a person between birth and puberty and
obese is extremely fat:
corpulent (The American Heritage Dictionary 265,856).
This disease is
caused due to a lack of exercise and over-eating by a child.
Child
obesity can cause many medical problems for a child that suffers from such
a
disease. Obesty is a widespread disease that is growing incredibly worse
as
technology increases. Furthermore, it is obvious that the lack of exercise
has a
major part to do with child obesity; scientists blame the television
for a
substitute to outdoor sports. Kids are spending more time watch
television than
they are doing physical activities. The findings strongly
support the notion
that the most important lifestyle factor in childhood
obesity is television
watching (Monmaney). The television brings the child`s
imagination to life,
giving them entertainment to do without the running and
exercising of outdoor
sports. The more television a child watches the more
obese the child will get.
Next, the problem is getting so out of hand
that the government is going to have
to start getting involved. Satcher and
Shirley Watkins, the undersecretary of
agriculture for food, nutrition and
consumer services said that, "'TV
increases obesity, stifles creativity and
shortens attention spans among young
people'" (Bauder). This is their reason
for joining the campaign for a
"TV-Free America." It is estimated that an
obese child watches an
average of four hours and nine minutes of television
each day. That is four
hours that a child could be bonding with their family
or taking action in some
physical activity. Thus, problem with child obesity
starts as young as infancy.
If the child's parents do not stress exercise
the child will find an alternative
way to occupy their time. For example,
playing a game cartridge rather than
shooting hoops or flying a kite. The
game cartridge provides cheap entertainment
with very little fitness
involved. "Ross Andersen recommends that parents
find alternatives to
watching television for their children" (Joseph). A
parent should do anything
possible to get their kids away from the television.
Ether by making
daily plans with timed intervals limiting the amount of
television the child
can watch or signing them up for YMCA sport activities.
Even if the
parent has a busy work schedule, make time to benefit the
child.
Although, there are numerous amounts of prescription drugs for
child obesity,
the side affects are too risky for the younger child. The
easiest way to solve
this well-known disease is by stopping the problem
before it starts. If you can
intervene with overweight children before they
are fully grown, you can often
help them grow into their weight and prevent
them from becoming overweight
adults. Some overweight children don`t need to
lose weight as much as they need
to gain weight at a slower rate. (Discroll)
Moving on, some children do not need
to lose weight, but need help growing
into the weight they already have. They
can use help to slow the rate at
which they gain weight, making it easier for
them to grow into it. Plus, the
health risk faced by children with the disease
of child obesity is immense.
More than 70 percent of all cases persist into
adulthood (Mellin). Obesity
during adult years is associated with increased
rates of diseases such as
hyperinsulinemia, coronary heart disease, angina,
atherosclerosis, various
cancers, orthopedic problems, and gout along with many
other short-term and
psychosocial consequences of obesity in children. Thus,
with the technology
in today`s society the problem with child obesity has
largely intensified.
The management of obesity and overweight in children is an
important issue.
Before obesity can be treated in children, it would be helpful
to have a
marker to identify children who would likely become overweight or
obese in
adulthood. The parents and children can get a jump on what they need to
do to
beat this disease. The fight will not be easy but with the encouragement
of
the family they will be able to beet it together.