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Negative effects of obesity
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Recommended: Negative effects of obesity
Childhood obesity continues to be a serious problem in the United States and around the world. According to Evans et al in the article Changing Perceptions of the Childhood
Obesity Epidemic, obesity is one of the primary causes of preventable death in the US, and costs billions of dollars a year in health care expenditures. Their article discussed a study in which the attitudes of adults in the United States were studied, as well as the thoughts of the participants on the best ways to reduce childhood obesity.
According to MacDougall et al in the article We Have To Live in the Future, getting children to increase their levels of physical activity is the key to reducing childhood obesity. They conducted a study of 204 children living in South Australia which attempted to answer two questions: What do children think about sports and physical activity; and how do they express those thoughts to adults. They conducted the study using several methods: focus groups, interviews, and allowing the children to take photos that related to physical activity in some way.
The study concluded that it is important and necessary to give children a voice in determining how they engage in physical activity. The children in the study were happy that their voices were being heard. They overwhelmingly expressed that they enjoyed playing according to their own ideas as opposed to the more organized sports and activities that adults tend to think of as physical activity.
Vickii B. Jenvey, in her article The Relationship Between Television Viewing and Obesity in Young Children: A Review of Existing Explanations, points out that studies show that children spend more time in sedentary leisure activities, such as watching television, playing video games, ...
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...ppen overnight, but by following these recommendations progress can begin to be made.
Works Cited
Evans, W.D., Renaud, J.M., Finkelstein, E., Kamerow, D.B., & Brown, D.S. (2006). Changing perceptions of the childhood obesity epidemic. American Journal of Health Behavior, 30, 167-
176. doi: 10.5993/AJHB.30.2.6
Jenvey, V.C. (2007). The relationship between television viewing and obesity in young children: A review of existing explanations. Early Child Development and Care, 177(8), 809-820. doi:
10.1080/03004430601119851
MacDougall, C., Schiller, W., & Derbyshire, P. (2004). We have to live in the future. Early Child
Development and Care, 174(4), 369-387. doi: 10.1080/0300443032000153426
Signorielli, N., & Lears, M. (1992). Television and children’s conceptions of nutrition: Unhealthy messages. Health Communication, 4, 245-257. doi: 10.1207/s15327027hc0404_1
Obesity is a huge problem that needs to be resolved because it affects all people, unlike most issues. People of every gender, every age, and every race are at risk of being obese. Obesity rates in America have nearly doubled within the last twenty years. Something must be done not only to prevent obesity rates continuous rising, but also to dramatically increase the percentage of obese people in America altogether.
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.
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services there have been a notably large number of deaths due to obesity since it leads into other diseases like heart disease, type two diabetes and high blood pressure. Over weight and obese people in general
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.
3.DuRant RH, Baranowski T, Johnson M,”. The relationship among television watching, physical activity, and body composition of young children”. Pediatrics. 1999;94:445-449.
“This might be the first generation where kids are dying at a younger age than their parents and it's related primarily to the obesity problem.” Judy Davis. Childhood obesity is not a new term by an means but in the last few years it has grown in popularity. Some call childhood obesity the next “national epidemic”, sounds pretty scary especially when it’s effecting the youngest of Americans. Obesity is among one of the easiest medical condition to recognize but is the most difficult to treat. Children who are overweight are 10x more likely to become overweight adults unless they change their eating habits and exercise. (“Childhood Obesity. Pg 1). 30% of adult obesity begins in childhood, it is also said obesity is the cause of 300,000 deaths a year and cost society an estimated $100 billion a year. Today, about one third of American’s children and teens are considered to be overweight or obese, it has nearly tripled in size since 1963 (“Childhood Obesity”. Pg 1). Obesity is causing numerous health problems that typically aren’t seen until adulthood. Childhood obesity can effect the physical, emotional, and social well-being of a child.
According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “Between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese” (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). That number is beyond outrageous. Steps must be taken to prevent this from continuing. Our children are our future; without them we won’t even have one. In a country where there is a vast amount of information available, many parents are ignorant to the ramifications or consequences of letting their children eat whatever they want in addition to the long term effect of allowing them to sit in front of a computer or television, as well as allowing them to play video games all day. Eight to 18-year old adolescents spend an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media, including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies, and only one-third ...
Many children become obese due to lack of exercise. Today’s generation of children enjoy television, video games, iPads, and laptops much more than what the earlier generations of children did. Electronics have taken the joy out of things, like going outside to run around and play. In her book Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance, Jeffrey P. Koplan includes how to get children involved in others things besides electronics, “Encouraging children and youth to be physically active involves pr...
Childhood obesity is an increasing problem here in the United States. According to Schuab and Marian (2011) “Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions” (P.553). The prevalence of child obesity and overweight has increased over the last 30 years all over the United States, becoming one of the biggest public health challenges (Moreno, Johnson-Shelton, & Boles, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to give a background of the obesity epidemic, a review of current policy, and make a policy recommendation.
This public health issue does not only effect individuals but the national as a whole in regards to the health care system costs. Obesity in children "costs the health care system $14 billion per year, much which comes from public funds" (Glanz, 2008). Also, obesity is expected to cause 112,000 deaths per year in the United States(Gollust, 2014). In addition, many changes seen in the health care sy...
Childhood obesity is a serious problem among American children. Some doctors are even calling childhood obesity an epidemic because of the large percentage of children being diagnosed each year as either overweight or obese. “According to DASH sixteen to thirty-three percent of American children each year is being told they are obese.” (Childhood Obesity) There is only a small percentage, approximately one percent, of those children who are obese due to physical or health related issues; although, a condition that is this serious, like obesity, could have been prevented. With close monitoring and choosing a healthier lifestyle there would be no reason to have such a high obesity rate in the United States (Caryn). Unfortunately, for these children that are now considered to be obese, they could possibly be facing some serious health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. All of these diseases have been linked to obesity through research. These children never asked for this to happen to them; however, it has happened, and now they will either live their entire life being obese, or they will be forced to reverse what has already been done (Childhood Obesity).
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.
Childhood obesity is a serious medical problem that affects children. Obesity is a medical term, commonly defined as being extremely overweight, which is only half the case. (www.wikipedia.com) Many parent’s ask if their child is obese, or at risk of becoming overweight, and they ask what to do about it. MD, Dennis Clements tells parents: “Obesity is a family event, not an individual event”.
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.
Obesity simply put, is an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity puts children at increased risk of disease and other health-related problems. Childhood obesity is a very serious and ongoing problem-putting children on the pathway to health conditions earlier in their life such as diabetes, elevated cholesterol, hypertension. Childhood obesity also has a link to depression as well as affects the self-esteem of children and adolescent. I recently performed a community teaching on childhood obesity and will be discussing the teaching experience, observation, summary of the teaching plan, epidemiological rationale for childhood obesity, evaluation of my teaching and the community’s response to the teaching.