Obesity in Children

I wonder if it is becoming a common trend or is it just me – but over the past couple of years I have been witnessing an increasing rate of children who are obese and overweight. While some parents may like to see that their children are fed well, it does not necessarily mean that they are any healthier than their trimmer counterparts. In fact, many obese children have been diagnosed to suffer from diabetes at a tender age. Also, studies have shown that obese children tend to be less attentive in class, less active in school and also lack confidence in their social activities later on in life.

There are several factors why more children are getting obese these days.

In the big cities, parents are often reluctant to let their children play outdoors due to fear for their safety. Instead, they encourage their kids to go online or play video games for entertainment. Play time nowadays is reduced to accommodate extracurricular activities and school homework assignments. Gone were the days when kids had more time on their hands to play with their friends.

All of this results in diminished unstructured play time. Children need time to play with other children to get social interaction. Socially inept kids are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and attention-deficit disorder in addition to obesity. Unstructured play fosters innovation and creative thinking. Kids need to be kids to be healthy and happy!

Happily, obesity in children is a situation which can be prevented or improved. Here are a couple of suggestions for parents and schools to combat the growing problem of obesity in kids.

 Less TV and Internet – Reduce the number of hours children spend watching TV, playing video games, getting online and chatting on cell phones. All these activities (or inactivities!) encourage sitting or lying down for long stretches of time. Get your child to go to the playground, play sports with his friends or anything else that requires him to get off the chair and onto his feet.

I hope that parents of obese and overweight kids will consider the above suggestions and take the correct step forward to give their children a healthy lifestyle and solve their weight problems.

Another recent study shows that there may be a direct link between children going to bed late and obesity! Study author Dr Jim Dollman points out that most kids get up at around 7am however they now go to bed at least half an hour later.

Dr Dollman says the lack of sleep could be a cause of higher weight levels in children.”That’s the difference in sleep duration between overweight and normal weight children, according to a recent study overseas,” he said.

“So it may well be that the 30-minute reduction is contributing in the increase in the prevalence of overweight that we’re seeing among children.”