Weight Status Of Children Essay

Becoming increasingly more active is vital to combating and reducing obesity in children. Healthful, fitness habits, then, must be jumpstarted at institutions where all American children spend mandatory time, such as in a child’s school; evidently, “normal weight children get 16 more minutes of

Do you get enough exercise? Are you sure about that? Or how about this, are you overweight, do you even know? Today’s adolescents don’t. In fact today’s adolescents face serious risk from their lack of activity. Today’s children are obese because they have developed some very bad habits related to healthy living and as result can suffer serious physical and psychological damage.

In a study conducted by Patricia M. Anderson and Kristen F Butcher who have written “Childhood Obesity: Trend and Potential Causes “has stated “based on Nielsen data, overall daily minutes of television watching has climbed over the decades. The statistics show that it has increase by 15% from 1990’s to 2000’. Children may be also substitute other forms of media, including videos, videos games and the internet, for television watching. According to a 1999 study, children spent 19.3 hours a week watching television, another 2.3 hours playing video games, and a 2.5 hours in front of the computer internet just over one day of “screen time” a week”. A policy statement from “The American Heart Association written by Deborah R. Young, PHD” stated that “regular physical activity is an important behavior for general health and to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, obesity and some forms of cancer”. She suggest that children should have at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily. The National Football League has also joined the forces by promoting “Play 60” which is a campaign to encourage kids to be active for 60 minutes a day in order to help reverse the trend of childhood

Kids who live in places like housing tracts, condos, and planned communities are not allowed or discouraged to take part in outdoor activities. More than 57 million people live in places that control what that person and their family does. Even the public government can restrict children’s access to nature. “For the most part the criminalization of natural play is more suggestive than real. However, in some communities, young people who try to recreate their parents’ childhoods may face misdemeanor charges or see their parents sued.” Page 29. With these regulations kids are basically forced to join a sports teams. Sports are good for kids but it doesn’t let them be free and do what they want. Studies have shown that modern families are spending more time watching television and on the computer. Growing obesity rates among adults and children because of diets and sedentary lifestyles. Since kids are not going outside and playing as much they are getting less exercise and are more obese than ever. U.S. researcher Jane Clark, a University of Maryland professor of kinesiology suggests “that a generation of children is not only being raised indoors, but is being confined to even smaller spaces.” “calls them “containerized kids”- they spend more and more time in car seats, high chairs, and even baby seats for watching TV. When children do go outside, they’re often placed in containers-strollers-and pushed by walking or jogging parents.” These are used to keep the kids safe but research suggests that it effects the long-term health of children. As more people are being affected by nature deficit more scientific evidence is emerging that indicates direct contact with nature is essential for mental and physical

Even when controlling for ethnicity and socioeconomic status, results still indicate that watching TV contribute significantly to obesity. For example, a study conducted in the United Kingdom concluded that an increase in TV hours on weekends correlated with higher BMIs at 30 years of age. For each added hour of time spent watching TV on weekends at age 5, obesity risk increased by 7%. The impact of watching TV on children’s weight is even more pronounced when there is a TV set in the child’s bedroom. A study of children between the ages of 9 to 12 suggested that having a TV set in their bedroom significantly increased risks of obesity, regardless of physical activity. Moreover, when TV viewing time is decreased, obesity as well as other measures of adiposity are reduced as well. Multiple studies have also documented the positive association between increased TV exposure and increase risks of childhood obesity in the Latino

Greg Critser identifies the main barriers to physical activity in modern society. First of all, being active was viewed as a personal choice, not an obligatory part of daily life. In 1980, TV became the dominant mass medium which occupied a high proportion of American leisure time. According to Greg Critser, an average American watches about four hours of TV a day and during these hours there is no physical activity. Moreover, when people watch TV they usually eat something or take snacks with increased caloric intake. Numerous researches have shown that children who watched television during childhood had a higher risk of becoming obese. CDC also found that children who watched four or more hours of TV per day are more likely to have higher BMI and skinfold thickness than children who watch less television. There is a strong positive association between TV watching time and the risk of becoming overweight or obese. The more television people watch, the more likely they are to gain weight and become overweight or obese. Second of all, cuts in school funds influence physical education and PE classes. The amount of time and frequency children spent in PE class decrease tremendously. Along with this, the level of rigorous activity needed in order to surpass decrease dramatically. By the end of the 1980s, Illinois was the only state that required daily physical

In addition to poor food selection in low-income neighborhoods, prevalence of childhood obesity is also significantly affected by family education. Several works of literature support the idea of the critical role of parents or caregivers in determining children's physical health and body mass index. The role of parenting and caregivers is crucial for young children because parents directly determine the child’s physical and social environment, and indirectly influence behaviors, habits, and attitudes through socialization processes; this means that overweight is a function of environment.10

The author wanted to examine the differences between physical activity and inactive behavior in various locations in Latino preschool-aged children. The author then determined whether the differences in physical activity by location were greater in children of parents with higher neighborhood-safety perceptions and physical activity as well as supportive parenting practices.

The absence of activity and proper rest has been associated with obesity in children, adolescents and adults. Physical activity habits, and, specifically, inactivity, track significantly from adolescence into young adulthood. Because poor children have fewer opportunities for outdoor exercise or organized sports participation, we expect physical activity will mediate the effects of

This is a weakness because the data may have changed due to the rising endemic of childhood obesity in the United States. Focusing on the ideas of “toxic environment”, there has been no research conducted on the relationship to genotype. It is unknown if certain individuals, who have obesity-predisposing genes, are likely to expose themselves to the toxic environment. Concerning socioeconomic status, it is difficult to classify the mechanisms that underlie it, as research has some suggestions, but no definitive proof. Several studies in poor SES areas had a higher exposure to fast-food outlets, which contain calorically dense inexpensive foods. Many low SES communities are situated in high frequency areas, therefore less space for parks or recreational centers. Some researchers claim limited access to resources, differential costs of nutritious foods or access to recreational facilities all play a role in the inverse relationship between obesity and SES. There is little research on how family home nutrition and physical activity influences food insecurity and childhood obesity in rural settings. It is difficult to gain this information, as many people want to live private lives and not be the center of an ongoing research

The environment of a family has an impact on a person’s health. “Research has shown that families who eat dinner together regularly consume more fruits and vegetables, fewer fried foods, and less soda than those families who do not eat dinner together.”(Dietz, 2001) Families that are stable are often more effective in being their own support system and creating a more stable environment. Families pursue the use of technology, restaurants and fast-paced eating as well as single parenting and parental denial. The media and technology promote sedentary behavior. Technology is prevalent in the cause of childhood obesity. While it is a convenience, and in some cases a form of entertainment, technology should not be replaced with active activities because it is a leading cause in childhood obesity. “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately 10 percent of preschool age children and 15 percent of 6- to 19-year olds, can be considered overweight. Twice as many are on the brink of the statistic, making childhood obesity a societal epidemic.” (Can, 2011) As sociocultural evolution carries on, the epidemic of obesity increases. Obesity in children also has psychological consequences such as negative physical self-perceptions, lower feelings of self-worth, and in some cases higher incidence of behavioral problems

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

There was a time when chubby children were considered cute. It was assumed that their baby fat would melt away and a healthy adult would emerge. We now know that childhood obesity can be very harmful for our nations children. Not only can obesity cause health problems but also psychological problems. In observing the causes of childhood obesity, hopefully we can slow down the epidemic.

The children found less time in playing with their mothers than those who did not work. Children engaged in less physical activities were at greater risk of higher body mass index (Cawley and Liu 2007). Guo et al (2002) stated that according to U.S. research 59 percent of boys and 45 percent of girls who were overweight at the age of three years, would be overweight at thirty five years of age. Bradley et al (2008) showed in their study that higher BMI (body mass index) was associated with more behavior problems and lower academic achievement during middle and late childhood. Mcdonnell and Doyle (2014) examined that preschool children of well educated mothers had an increased risk of childhood overweight and obesity. Benjamin et al (2009) found that informal child care in early years had a determined effect on risk of overweight during childhood.

In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.