Obesity Assessment Essay

When tourist come to America they see the bigger food portions on our plates than what they would see in other countries throughout the world. In the U.S. obesity is a one of the major problems we have because people are free to buy and eat what they want without anyone to tell them differently. The cost of healthier foods are also more expensive than buying fast food or anything else that’s not healthy. As the obesity issue becomes a bigger problem new problems start to rise. For example health issues are increasing for the obese.

In Alaska, there are villages that do not have gyms that are in good condition and sometimes, it is hard to access. According to Alaska Department of Health & Social Services, 20.9% for all Alaska adolescents and 21.1% for Alaska Native adolescents were engaging in sixty minutes of physical activity every day of the week. The state target is 23.0% and the male adolescents have already exceeded that goal, but beginning in 2011 where the percentage was 28.0%, there seems to be a downward trend because in 2015, there were only 24.7%. In the plan from Healthy Alaskans 2020, speaking with schools will assist students in getting more physical activity time, for example, longer

Think of it, kids only go to Physical Education or “gym” class every other day of the week. So that is about two or three times a week. Gym class only lasts about an hour of the day, and for some students, this is the only physical exercise that they have. When kids come home from school, they usually just sit down on the couch and watch TV until dinner time, study, and then play video games late at night, and then go to bed. The way we can get kids to develop a habit of more physical exercise is having gym class every day instead of just two to three. Also, instead of kids playing games that involve little to no activity, Schools should have kids focus on things like getting your body moving like running, yoga or sports games like baseball, football or volleyball. Things like this that kids can look forward to doing everyday may potentially lead to a child more encouraged to play with a ball afterschool and find a new hobby instead of sitting at home on the

You have heard, time and time again, how good exercise is for children. Most children aren’t getting the suggested amount of exercise

The physical activities of children often reduce during this period. The network thus suggests that the children should be increasingly active in their outdoor activities at least for an hour per day. The children should be encouraged to do physical activities such as swimming, skateboarding, bike riding and running (Harper, 2006). It is also recommended that the children should have a time limit of watching television or using such I-pads for less than 2 hours per day. It is also worthwhile that the children are provided with the disciplined approach of having breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of eating on an irregular basis.

This literature review is being conducted to evaluate an intervention, which has been taken for its successes and failures. Having a key understanding of the positives and negatives in this intervention will be beneficial when planning for our own group project. In this specific article, “Get Fit With the Grizzlies: A Community-School-Home Initiative to Fight Childhood Obesity,” written by Carol C. Irwin, Richard L. Irwin, Maureen E. Miller, Grant W. Somes, and Phyllis A. Richey, put into action a get fit program to motivate children to obtain knowledge of living a healthy life through physical activity and diet. Analyzing the strengths and weakness throughout this article would be helpful in creating a successful outcome

It is widely known that the physical activity (PA) levels for children are not being met world wide. There are a myriad of activities and movements that children can participate to receive the recommended 60 minutes a day of PA. However, how do parents have an influence on the physical activity their children are receiving? Gwendolyn Kay VanDerworp and Sarah-Jane Ryan’s 2014 article “Parents’ Perception of their Influence on their Child’s Physical Activity” studies how parents perceive their influence on there children’s PA. During this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study, three major themes arose in how they perceived their influence on PA. These themes; environment of opportunity, negative barriers, and their interactions with their children, served as the foundation of the article. In this paper I will discuss the findings of VanDerworp and Ryan’s research and how parental influences effect children’s PA.

Childhood obesity is an epidemic that has been spreading around the United States like a wild fire in a dry field, increasing more and more without much resistance to stop it from spreading. The SPARK PE program was created in 1989, and aims to be that resistance against childhood obesity, with carefully planned programs in hopes of showing the youths of America that exercise and proper nutrition can lead to a successful, healthy life (SPARK). SPARK aims at achieving this goal by carefully planning out different physically beneficial activities, while also making sure that they are popular with the students in hopes of the students continuing the activities outside the classroom. SPARK, or “Sports, Play, Active, Recreation for, Kids”, isn’t only aimed to improve solely physical attributes for children, but also aims to improve environmental and behavioral change at the same time (SPARK). These planned programs include a classroom & recess program, an after school program, along with the Coordinated School Health Initiative (SPARK). The SPARK PE program is an elite organization who’s goal is to ensure that today’s youth grow up healthy, while at the same time making sure they’re having fun doing it with their classroom & recess activities, after school activities, and the Coordinated School Health Initiative.

Physical activity is the ability to perform the different characteristics of sports and professions for the sake of a person’s health and well-being. Physical activity can include walking, running, swimming and etc. Exercise would be considered a type of physical activity. It is known to be excellent for a person mentally and physically. It keeps a person’s heart and lungs healthy and overall lets he or she have an everlasting life. So therefore children need to be educated on physical activity and why it is essential in our lives. After learning and studying about the what could possibly happen to a person if he or she is not active, I became worried and started motivating and educating my little sister on the different types of physical activities to do. It was not something that she wanted to do but it was something she

Behavioral and social approaches were combined because these interventions often involve group behavioral counseling and also may involve the friends or family members including individual’s social environment. Skills focus on recognizing types and opportunities for physical activity, techniques to solve high-risk situations, and ways to maintain desired human aspects and prevent deterioration. These interventions also involve making changes in the home, family, school and work

The first step to combating childhood obesity is that legislation must pass to provide funding for creating opportunities for physical activity. Evidence suggests that school-based physical education increases students’ level of physical activity and improves physical fitness (Zaza et al, 2005). The National Association and Physical Education (NASPE) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend that all elementary school students should participate in at least 150 minutes per week of physical education and all middle and high school students should participate in at least 225 minutes of physical education per week for the entire school year (NASPE & AHA, 2006). Currently many schools with weak budgets will cut from their physical education budget which either greatly diminishes the effectiveness of the programs or eliminates them completely. Thus, there should be federal money

” The authors of the article also state that states have “new funding (approximately $40 million annually) [that] is available to hire elementary school credentialed physical education teachers and potentially affect over 1000 elementary schools (see California Governor's Budget, 2007-08) (“Elementary”).” Of course, that is not sufficient “funding, however, to support PE credentialed teachers' direct services to all children on a regular basis (e.g., 3 or more times per week, 150 minutes per week) (“Elementary”).” Because of that, “empowering classroom teachers to deliver regular physical education remains an important part of the equation in improving current health trends related to low physical activity rates (“Elementary”).” In this research it seems that “this PDP model seems particularly relevant given the need to determine the most practical and effective approaches to improve elementary school physical education in states that rely heavily on classroom teachers to deliver the PE program (“Elementary””).” Parents value our teachers, and the teachers can teach them how to value their kids. The funding that put aside to hire credited PE faculty might be used to fund equipment and classes to teach teachers the fundamental requirements to provide adequate physical education. Teaching the teachers how to maximize and deliver the activities can help provide better physical

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System monitors US schools in terms of meeting the nationally recommended amount of physical education (PE) per week: 150 minutes in elementary school and 225 minutes in middle/high school (Brownson, 2010). However, there are few schools that provide the resources for meeting this national standard; only 3-4% of US students during the 2007-2008 academic year attended school in a district that upheld this physical activity standard in the school curriculum (Brownson, 2010). This statistic is unfortunate as research strongly supports that physically active children benefit in terms of “cognitive functions including aspects of concentration, brief tests of reading and mathematics achievement, and inhibitory control” (Pontifex, 2010). The study from the researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that these results could produce similar affects in children diagnosed with ADHD. These

To slow this epidemic of childhood obesity, physical activity needs to be put back in these children’s lives.

Interventions that increase PA among teachers and staff may also reach children indirectly, both through changes in schools’ social and cultural environments that support physical activity and the positive example that active teachers provide for students.