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Approach for obesity
Childhood obesity policy issues paper
Approach for obesity
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Public health policy is a regulated legislative action taken to achieve health care goals within a society. It outlines the priorities with specific and attainable goals to improve the community’s health. This particular public health model chosen deals with nutrition and physical activity. It highlights statistics and outlines the goals that were taken in order to achieve a healthier school setting. This public health policy also provoked proactivity within the Los Angeles school system and motivated the superintendent and board of education to implement appropriate actions in order to present the students with healthier alternatives. An analysis of this policy will highlight the benefits, feasibility and implications in order to evaluate and determine its effectiveness.
According to the Center for Disease Control, childhood obesity has doubled in children and more than quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years (CDC, 2014). This alarming fact places emphasis on the importance of addressing childhood obesity, and the urgent approach to collectively involve as many sectors as possible to implement different strategies in order to manage the rampant increase in obesity. Physical activity along with the proper nutrition promotes the optimal growth and development of children (CDC, 2014). Schools are the primary settings for these public health strategies to address obesity and physical inactivity. Although there can be other sectors involved to also reduce the steady increase of childhood obesity, schools are a great place to start. Children spend the majority of their time in school, and the applications learned while attending school are what they will learn to practice throughout life. The Obesity Prevention Motion policy...
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..., well-balanced life, we deprive them of their well-being. The practice of physical wellness requires much teaching and guidance, just like learning anything that will be used throughout life. The implementation of policy in order to mend conditions improves the options of healthier food along with instructional guides for physical education is a great strategy in attacking obesity in children head on. However, there should be a more strategic plan implemented in order to make bigger strides and better improvements. The policy implemented by the Los Angeles City Board of Education covers several different areas of nutrition and physical activity which is a great place to start. With this initiative along with other community initiatives and bigger strides continued in the right direction, there will be an effective decrease in childhood obesity in the years to come.
From Kindergarten to 12th grade, children spend most of their time at school. School, what we adults think, is supposed to be the teachers of our children while we are at work. They feed them lunch, and possibly breakfast, five days out the week, keep them active, and teach them all about their body and health in health class. But, are they really taking care of them enough? Some schools fail to serve healthy foods, teach health class, or even provide enough time to be physically active. One in three kids are obese, that is reason enough to care about these children’s lives at school. Schools are one of the reasons that the younger generation has a fast growing obese rate.
Exercise, food, technology, and money all play a role in causing childhood obesity. Lack of exercise among adolescents has been proven to be the leading cause of childhood obesity. According to a May 2012 Institute of Medicine report, only half of America’s children and one in four teens get enough activity to meet current guidelines (Doheny and Noonman 1). The recommendations call for children to participate in at least 60 minutes of vigorous to moderate physical activity every day (Hendrick 1). “Only four percent of elementary schools, eight percent of middle schools, and two percent of high schools provide daily physical ...
Obesity is a growing trend that is affecting individuals significantly in the U.S. and throughout the world. “As of 2013, Kentucky ranks 42 in the U.S. for obesity and over the past year the rate of obesity has risen from 30.4 percent to 31.3 percent among its population.”1 Many factors contribute to the rate of obesity in Kentucky, but, in my opinion, the most significant contributing factor to this trend is physical inactivity. I am a resident of a very rural and underdeveloped community in Eastern Kentucky, where a significant portion of the population lives with a triage of comorbidities (diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hypertension). I feel that these disease states that plague individuals could be improved significantly with a life style intervention of increasing physical activity. Several barriers that decrease physical activity for our community must be overcome to improve the health of our community, among the most significant of these barriers includes the built environment due to lack of infrastructure, poverty from lack of jobs, and a negative cultural perception on exercise. I would like to lobby to school board members of Johnson Central High School to allow public access of local community members to use school facilities during non-school hours to increase physical activity to improve the health of its community.
The health of the American people lags behind those from other developed countries. Federal public health agencies have a wide range of responsibilities and functions which includes public health research, funding, and oversight of direct healthcare providers. It has been a long time since changes have been made to the way the federal government structures its health care roles and programs outside of Medicare and Medicaid (Trust, 2013). With healthcare reform on the horizon now is the time to invest time and money in prevention, not medicine, making it a top priority to improve health and prevent disease. Funding efforts at all levels of the public health continuum need to focus on developing programs aimed at such leading initiatives as tobacco cessation, improving nutrition, supplying safe workplaces, and increasing physical activity in all ages of the population. People should have equal access to quality preventative medicine and education.
“Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans.” ( United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Healthy People 2020 , 2011). It acts as a national guide for disease prevention and health promotion. There are various objectives and goals which serve as the guideline to achieve overall improvement in health . ‘Educational and Community-Based Programs’ is one of them. According to U.S Department of Health and Human Services the main goal of these programs is to “Increase the quality, availability, and effectiveness of educational and community-based programs designed to prevent disease and injury, improve health, and enhance quality of life.” (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2011). This particular goal of Healthy People 2020 focuses on increasing the number educational and community based programs to increase awareness about disease prevention and health among every individual of the society. It focuses on educating them on various topics including chronic diseases, substance abuse, prevention of injury and violence to encourage and enhance health. It emphasizes on increasing the quantity and quality of such programs so that a larger population could benefit from the program and gain effective knowledge to achieve a healthy life.
There is an alarming rise in childhood obesity throughout the United States, making it an epidemic in our country. Obesity has become a threat to the health of many children. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.(Childhood Obesity Facts, 2015)
Obesity in children across America has become an increasing public health concern. Obesity has been identified as an epidemic that is plaguing our children in the United States. In some countries around the world children are dying of starvation everyday. How can this happen when here in America the opposite is a major problem? This is not to say that in America there are no hungry or starving children. It has been proven that our children suffer from obesity, and “children who are overweight or obese as preschoolers are five times as likely as normal-weight children to be overweight or obese as adults” (“Hope”). Obesity not only can cause a child to become more prone to having health problems down the road, but it can also make them feel insecure about themselves. There needs to be action taken in schools as well as in homes to help prevent this growing epidemic.
With childhood obesity becoming an epidemic in America, we need methods to help stop obesity in children such as physical activities. Physical activities are not only to help prevent obesity; it can also help students improve on their academics. “Physical education helps the brain function; exercise increases the blood flow within the body and increases the blood volume in regions of the brain associated with memory formation” (Kovar, Susan K at el. Elementary Classroom Teachers as Movement Educators. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.). Children spend many hours of their week inside a classroom, there are activities and lessons teachers can do to help their students become more active. “Physical education and movement are important to start at a young age because children are very active and child obesity is a huge problem these days” (Gaither, Laura, personal interview. October 7, 2013). Having movement and physical activity in the classroom is crucial to elementary school children as it is shown to have a positive effect on their overall life quality. “We know that physical activity is critical…not just for better health but for better academic performance” (Michelle Obama).
"The increased prevalence of overweight and obesity particularly among children and adolescents is a severe public health problem" (Bray, 2005). According to our text, health education and health promotion are recognized increasingly as ways to meet public health objectives and improve the success of public health and medical interventions around the world (Gollust, 2014).
The United States needs to do something to change the amount of childhood obesity in the nation. If the government requires children to take classes that require physical activity, abolishes school vending machines, and teaches children about healthy eating, then the amount of children that are obese in the United States will decrease significantly. Obesity is defined as the increase of body fat over time to the point where it can impact health in a negative manner and decrease life expectancy. Since the 1980’s, obesity has increased dramatically in the United States. Children have been greatly impacted in the increase of obesity. This is a major problem as someday these obese children could possibly turn into obese adults. If the population of obese adults and children keeps increasing, than not only will our country have a lot of severely unhealthy people but the cost of health care will increase dramatically.
We want to solve the problem by helping kids and adults each healthier by making healthier lifestyle choices when it comes to eating. We also want to also increase physical activity of children and adolescents. I believe with the proper diet and exercise we can help decrease the obesity issue in this country that has grown so much in the past two decades. These steps are vital to helping prevent childhood obesity and even kids who currently suffer from childhood obesity. Since the 1970’s approximately 15 percent of children and adolescents are now overweight. "Prevent Childhood Obesity-Get Your Kids Moving!" Prevent Childhood Obesity-Get Your Kids Moving!
Educational institutions have the potential to, first and foremost, educate and assist the young people of today with making the positive, healthful choices necessary to maintain good health. Over 4,500 students have been followed in recent research studies and these “thousands of sixth graders who participated in a school-based health program were less obese by eighth grade than a group of similar children who did not, according to a new study done for the National Institutes of Health” (Rabin). Schools need to create health programs focused on assisting all children suffering from being overweight or obese. Policies such as fitness programs, nutrition classes, and healthful meals can even impact every student by creating a strong foundation and awareness of the negative, long term effects associated with practicing unhealthy habits. Although the financial expenses would be necessary, the adaption of scho...
In our society today one of the most difficult problems we are facing is the large numbers of obesity in our children. One of the major factors in that is this; our children have become less physically active. At an early age children start watching TV, learn how to operate a computer, and play video games. Having technological skills is now a necessity in all of our lives because everything has turned “computerized,” but the fact is that our children are relying on these types of entertainment rather than getting up and physically exercising to entertain them selves. This directly affects the large number of obese children in our country today because of the lack of physical exercise. It is not that we want our kids to look a certain way or to be better at sports than everyone else, but it is that we want our kids to be physically fit and to develop a healthy lifestyle. Physical exercise is not only for adults, it is for children as well, so we must understand the importance of our children exercising and the benefits from it. By doing that it will make an impact on that child for the rest of his/her life.
Did you know that “one out of three children in the United States is considered overweight”? (Miller). In today’s society, more and more students are gaining excessive weight which can lead to even worse internal problems like heart disease which can drastically shorten their life span. With school budget cuts and limited time available for the class, physical education has slowly become more obsolete in today’s educational requirements. If students cannot get the minimum time needed to burn the extra energy found in today’s foods and drinks, the extra fat adds up, and can create a buildup extra weight. With the rise of obesity, simply learning healthy eating and exercises can lead to a better life style later on in life. If physical education
With more technology to feel the gap of physical labor for humans and poor nutrition, obesity is rising and people are not living up to their potential. Children have been spending more time indoors with a screen in their face and a controller in their hand. Lack of physical activity not only causes obesity, but lack of brain power and achievement. Children and their families need to be taught the proper ways of how to be healthy in physical education classes to maintain their health across their life span. By incorporating in more lifelong knowledge about health into our physical education systems, obesity rates will drop and students will do much better in school.