Today, it is no secret that America is overweight. Although we still remain the land of the free, we are looked at by the rest of the world as “the fat country”. This is a label that we are not proud of and each day more and more people are becoming aware of the new epidemic called Obesity. In the article “Childhood Obesity in New York City Elementary School Students”, the author Lorna E. Thorpe discusses the numbers and statistics of how many kids are really overweight. “ Findings from the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicate that in 1999-2000, the prevalence of obesity among children aged six through eleven years was 15 percent” (Thorpe et al. 2004). Previous surveys show that in 1960 the obesity rate was five percent, and in eleven percent in 1988-1994. From looking at the information in the surveys you can easily see that the obesity rates are climbing rapidly. With obesity, come many dangerous side effects, both short term and long term. Short term side effects of obesity are “adverse effects on growth, blood pressure, blood lipids, and glucose metabolism” (Thorpe et al. 2004). Long term effects consist of “greater risk of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gall bladder disease, and osteoarthritis” (Thorpe et al. 2004). Along with physical effects of obesity, a child will also experience many physiological effects also. “Negative self-image, decreased self-esteem, eating disorders, and lower health-related quality of life” (Thorpe et al. 2004) are all examples of the physiological side effects. These can have a severe impact on a child’s outlook on life as he or she gets older. Although these side effects are prevalent to childhood obesity, no child should have to go through the... ... middle of paper ... ...ing, snowboarding, kickboxing, golf, etc. These games are operated by a motion censored controller that reads the child’s movement. This works because the kid is entertained by the game, but at the same time burning calories. It’s a great idea to narrow the correspondence between obesity and video games. After reading the article and understanding the tests performed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, I strongly believe that it was a great effort to help our youth understand what obesity means. If more people across the globe made efforts like these to help our youth, we could fight this epidemic one school at a time. If we don’t act soon, it will be too late and our youth will become adults; Obese adults. We as the United States need to come together and stand up for what is right. The youth is our future and it’s time we make a change.
Many would argue that children should not focus on their weight because children should lead a youth with little worries, yet obesity affects a child much more than people with that argument think. Being overweight can cause increased risks for several serious diseases and even can result in decreased mental health on account of low self-esteem and social discrimination. Children who are overweight also are at least twice as likely to have heart disease, diabetes, and orthopedic problems (Internicola, 2009). Sadly, children are being pressured into unhealthy lifestyles even more so than adults are.
It is natural for a society to be concerned for the future generations. With the rate of obesity growing in adults and children, many begin to see it as an issue that needs to be addressed. New reports show “ childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years” (cdc.gov). Overweight and obese are not actually the same. Overweight is defined as “having excess body weight for a particular height from fat,” and obesity is defined as “having excess body fat” (cdc.gov). With obesity comes the chance for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Both can be
When you think of children playing video games you probably think of a child sitting in front of a TV or monitor for hours on end. This is not the case with a lot of games. Now while there may be a fair amount of children who do this there are a lot who know how to moderate their gaming and exercise. Some medical professionals have actually recommend patients to play video games as part of their treatment.
The obesity epidemic is one of the most pressing issues at this point in both American society and U.S. public policy initiatives. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 35.9% of U.S. adults over the age of twenty are obese (CDC, 2013). The CDC further notes that 69.2% of U.S. adults twenty years of age and over are overweight (this percentage includes those who are obese). The obesity problem is not exclusive to the adults in the U.S. The CDC notes that 18.4% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are currently obese (CDC, 2013). These statistics illustrate the severity of the obesity epidemic in this country, but what can be done to address or even correct this problem? Many people have proposed solutions, but few are as radical as the proposal from Michael Bloomberg (the New York City Mayor) in 2012.
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.
Based on a review of the literature, one thing learned was that the incidence of obesity from 1980 to 1999 has doubled in the United States (Ogden, Carroll & Flegal, 2002 cited in O’Dea & Eriksen, 2010, pp. 84-85). Childhood obesity is a major concern because these children grow up to become obese adults. According to Serdula et al., 1993 (as cited by Friedman, Bowden, & Jones, 2003) childhood obesity leads to a lot of adult health problems. Obese children are being diagnosed with diseases normal seen in older adults, like non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Disease leads to other costly complications, such as coronary artery disease, renal failure, and blindness (Freedman, Katzmarzyk, Dietz, Srinivasan, & Berenson, 2009
America is facing a rigorous obesity plague that is endangering the health of millions. Moreover, we are passing our bad practices down to our children. Obesity is a stipulation in which anomalous or excessive fat buildup in adipose tissue that damages health. Obesity is defined in adults as a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 30 (kg/m). Obesity is one of the most discernible, but until recently, most deserted public health problems. The present high pervasiveness of obesity and the brisk increase in pervasiveness in the last twenty years has been referred to as an endemic (Johnson SJ, Birch LL. 1994). Children all through the U.S. are getting fatter and less fit, through potentially treacherous enduring consequences. The figure of overweight children ages 6-17 has dual in the past 25 years. One in five children in the United States is now overweight or fat. Overweight children can build up diabetes and early risk factors for heart disease. Being fat in addition carries arousing risks for children. By the age of six, lots of children have developed pessimistic attitudes concerning obesity and will keep out fat children from play (Freedman D.S.,Dietz W.H., Srinivasan S.R, Berenson G.S. 1999). Fat children are teased and scorned by their peers. In adolescence, lots of overweight young people have developed a pessimistic personality that might prolong into adulthood. Overweight adolescents typically take their excess weight into adulthood. Overweight in adults is related to diabetes, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis and several forms of cancer. Overweight children are more than two times likely to have high levels of cholesterol. Aortic fatty splash, the first stages of atherosclerosis, begins to come into view in childhood, ...
The biggest health crisis in our nation is obesity (Carmona, 2003). It affects everyone everywhere. In today’s society, one out of every three children are considered obese (“overweight and obesity,” 2009). Child obesity has become a raging conflict and solutions must be presented to reduce it.
Forty years ago in America childhood obesity was rarely a topic of conversation. A survey done in the early 1970s showed that 6.1% of children between the ages 12 and 19 were overweight. Eight years later the same survey was done and 17.4% were considered overweight (Iannelli). “Childhood obesity epidemic in America is now a confirmed fact since the number of overweight or obese children has more than tripled during the last 30 years” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). “Over the last 20 years, the prevalence of obesity in children aged 6 to 11 years has tripled from 6.5% to 19.6%” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). As a nation statistics should be alarming. Why are American children today so obese?
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 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).
Putting children in sports, clubs, involving them in reading, dancing, singing, or even drama, can help keep children from reaching the risk of becoming overweight and obese. Parents are responsible for their child’s health rate, so allowing them to partake in more activities benefits their child. Parents who buy their children video games are pushing their child to stay inside instead of pushing them to go outside and play. Playing outside for just one hour every day will make a difference in a child’s health. Staying inside only collects more calories in the body, rather than being outside and burning calories. I started playing soccer when I was in seventh grade which helped me stay active and healthy. Sports are a good way to keep children on track and physically healthy so that they avoid becoming overweight. Parents should be aimed to help find a hobby or a healthy lifestyle that their child enjoys. Parents who don’t aren’t helping their child participate in life lessons which keeps there child focused on unhealthy actions such a focusing more on T.V shows and video games.
Exercises are important activities for people who want to achieve healthy lives. Imagine that John, a person who loved to play tennis. He played tennis every morning before he went to work. However, one day, it rained hard outside and he couldn’t play his favorite sport anymore. He was so sad and depressed. Luckily, he remembered that he had a Wii--a video game console-- that could help him to play tennis with online people inside his house. It’s a big thank to the video game industry, now people can play sports any time they want inside their houses. Not only tennis, there is a ton of exercise game for people to choose: dancing games, yoga games, footballs game, fitness games to name a few. More than that, the video game industry is trying to create new exercise games that are more and more realistic so that people can burn the same amount of calories as they do actual sports when they play video games. In additions, for the first time in century, everyone can actually play sports and compete with people around the worlds inside their small houses. Exercising is more fun than ever before. ESPN channel actually broadcasts video games as normal sports. People can also learn about healthy foods when they play cooking video games. For an example, Cooking Academy, a game where players will play as a chef and learn to cook more than fifty recipes. Players will fry, chop, flip, mash, and more while answering
Video games are used to improve physical health. Playing video games does not mean being inactive. New and improved video games involve and incorporate different types of movement in the actual game. Certain video games can reduce fat causing global weight loss (Recio 143). By turning game systems into exercise, new generation games draw people into activities and get heart rates pumping. Schools have incorporated video games into part of their physical education program. Children’s waists lines have gone down by inches due to playing video games in gym class. In gym, the machines teach things like balance, timing, and coordina...
Video games have both good and effects, but bad effects were greater. Limiting the time of playing video games and choosing the right type are the solutions of the elimination of bad effects on children. Thus, moderation between playing video games and playing sports or doing extracellular activities will benefit the child. Another important point would be avoiding violent video games because they influence children’s behavior in an aggressive way.