Childhood Obesity Is A Medical Condition

In just two decades, the prevalence of obesity doubled for U.S. children ages 6 to 11, and tripled for American teenagers (Childhood Obesity). Obesity is an excessive accumulation of fat causing a person to become overweight. It is a serious and growing health problem, especially for kids. One major factor to the problem of children becoming obese is, video games. Video games have advanced dramatically over the years. From hitting a ball back and forth in the game “Pong,” and eating little dots in the game “Pac Man,” to first person shooters, and sport simulation games that look like you’re watching a game on TV. Even within the past six years, video games have advanced a lot.

The rate of childhood obesity has raised over the years with the current breakthrough in entertainment technology. The rise in childhood obesity cases has been linked to the over usage of entertainment technologies. There was a study done by the CDC showing that children aged 12 to 15 years whom play and or watch 4 or more hours of television or playing video games a lot of which were obese. Very few children that were over that threshold of obesity only 20% of which limited their screen time to 2 hours a day rather than 31% of their regular weight friends.

Childhood obesity has been a problem in the United States for quite some time now. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a

Finally, one school-based, experimental study was designed specifically to test directly the causal relationship between television viewing behaviors and body fatness. The results of this randomized, controlled trial provide evidence that television viewing is a cause of increased body fatness and that reducing television viewing is a promising strategy for preventing childhood obesity.

Physical inactivity is another area of concern as it is associated with chronic diseases and obesity. One study shows that about 50% of Canadian youth is not physically active enough and about 90% do not achieve minimum 90 minutes of physical activity per day (Lagarde & LeBlanc, 2010). Sedentary life styles, availability of electronic gadgets and lack of motivation are some of the factors that contributes towards physical inactivity among children.

Cross sectional epidemiological studies have consistently found relatively weak positive associations between television viewing and child and adolescent adiposity. Prospective studies are less common and have produced mixed results. The consistently weak association found in epidemiological studies may be due to the measurement error in self reports of television viewing. As a result, additional epidemiological studies would not be expected to clarify the true nature of this relationship.

Childhood obesity is currently a serious medical condition plaguing youth and adolescents all around the world, especially in developed nations. Childhood obesity occurs when ones weight or body fat exceeds what is normal for ones height and age. Children who are overweight are often troubled with poor self-esteem and depression. Overweight children are subjected to health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol at an early age. Many overweight children are unaware of the destruction they are causing to their health.

In the precedent few years, Type 2 diabetes has risen radically among children and adolescents. Experts consider this increase is due to the high rate of overweight and obesity (Cutting TM, Fisher JO, Grimm-Thomas K, Birch LL1999). One of the core reasons of children obesity is watching television. Technology is a vast accessory that millions of people use commonly in daily life. Television could be the most-used technological product of all. Millions of people now have as a minimum one television in their home. Though television seems like an immense thing to have, it has its disadvantages. Television can pessimistically influence people, mainly kids. A number of observational studies have originated an association between television watching and child and adolescent obesity. Moreover, it is recognized that American children spend more time watching television and playing video games than doing something else apart from sleeping. Researchers conducted a randomized, controlled test to assess the effects of reducing television, videotape, and video game use on changes in adiposity, physical activity, and dietary intake (Fisher JO, Birch LL. 1995). “The previous twenty five years have caused such a spectacular increase in childhood obesity. Technology, overeating and lack of physical activity can all contribute to obesity”. Birch LL, Fisher JO. Development of eating behaviors among children and adolescents. Pediatr

Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. It occurs when a child is overweight and well over the normal weight for his or her age and height. Child obesity is an important issue because the extra weight can lead children down the wrong path to health problems, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes to name a few. Childhood obesity can cause children to become depressed and have poor self-esteem. Emotional issues such as depression and poor self-esteem are another cause of childhood obesity. Dramatic life events such as a death in the family can lead to over eating. Some children overeat as a way with coping with problems in their lives or dealing with emotions like stress or boredom (Mayo foundation). The number of obese children in America has increased dramatically over the years, and if we keep going the way we are, obesity in children will continue to grow. In order to reduce childhood obesity we need to improve the diet and exercise habits of the entire family.

Obesity is a huge epidemic in America, as more alarming statistics begin to emerge - including estimates that 30% of all adults and as many as one-third of all children in the US are obese. About one in five children in the United States is now overweight! (Child Obesity Facts, 1999, para.2) Childhood obesity has lasting psychological effects, due to parental knowledge, lack of physical activities, and food advertisement; which has made obesity become a major health issue in many young children's lives today.

Childhood obesity is a medical condition that is found in children, teenagers and middle aged people. Everyone has a unique body

Environments in lower socioeconomic status areas are generally not safe and accessible for children. As stated earlier, more parents are driving their children to school now due to far distance, no safe walking route, fear of predators and convenience. Sociocultural factors also play a large role in our environment. In society today, many families will use food as a reward or it is used as a form of social gathering. The type of food available in a child’s home can be a big contributing factor. This can lead to developing unhealthy relationships and a reliance on food for children. It has been shown that family habits are what reflect onto the child; so having overweight parents with poor habits will directly affect the child

Another environmental cause of childhood obesity is the lack of physical activity. The problem is that physical activity has been replaced by video games, television, social networking and other technology. (Child Obesity Statistics) “It’s proven that children who watch the most hours of television have the highest incidence of obesity.” (Hosten) The American Heart Association they recommend “all children age 2 and older should participate in at least 60 minutes of enjoyable, moderate-intensity physical activities every day.” They also recommend “if your child or children don't have a full 60-minute activity break each day, try to provide at

Obesity and other health issues are become a problem for the youth in America. While poor diets contribute greatly to the problem, there are other factors as well, for instance, lack of exercise or physical activity. With numerous television shows for children of all ages, more time is spent inside, watching these shows than outside running around playing tag or

In today’s world television has become one of the most popular and frequently used pastimes. With the increase of technology available today people can now watch television on their phones, laptops, and tablets wherever they go. Something else that has increased in the past years are the number of obese people in the United States. In the last couple decades it was estimated that the number of obese children age 2-5 has more than doubled (5.0% to 12.4%) and for ages 6-11 it has also more than doubled (6.5% to 17.0%). In adolescents aged 12-19 the number has more than tripled (5.0% to 17.0%) and as for adults it is estimated that 70% of Americans are overweight and out of that percentage 50% are obese (Boulos, Vikre, Oppenheimer, Chang, & Kanarek, 2012). It is no coincidence that as the number of prolonged television use has risen so has the number of obese people in America. Television has a negative impact on children that in the long run can lead to obesity.