According to a research done in Harvard, it is known that the future obesity rates of American children will increase. Reports from CDC says that about 40% of American adults are obese. Studies have shown that about 57% of the children in the United States would become overweight as they grow older. Obesity is one of the primary factors for many life-threatening diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Being obese can affect a child both physically and mentally. An obese child might struggle with his/her social life, and lose their self-confidence. If you don’t want your child to be overweight, then you must start having healthy practices at home. As a parent, you need to motivate your child to lead a better lifestyle to stay healthy.
Health problems caused due to obesity:
Obesity can affect a child present and future health. Kids who are overweight are prone to bone and joint problems, shortness of breath, breathing problems, liver and gallbladder diseases, maturing earlier, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, emotional issues etc.
As they have shortness of breath, they will not be able to play any sport like the other kids in their school, and they will feel left out and disappointed. Overweight kids need to deal with getting teased or bullied in school, and they are more likely to be rejected by their peer groups. Due to emotional issues, these kids are more prone to substance abuse.
Body mass index:
BMI is calculated by measuring a person’s height and weight to estimate the fat content in the body. The normal BMI for kids are 5 to 85 percentile, and anything above 95 percentile is said to be overweight.
Reasons for obesity in Kids in America:
One of the main reasons for kids being obese in America is their eating habits and lifestyle. There might be other reasons such as endocrine problems, side effects of medicines, genetic syndromes etc.
Diet and lifestyle:
Most of the parents in America are jam-packed with their work, and they hardly have any time to take care of their diet plan, and they infuse this habit into their children. Kids get addicted to fast food, and they refuse to eat vegetables and other healthy food items. Kids are also addicted to sugary food items and consume them at a large scale. We as parents need to advise and control the diet habits of our children.
Kids these days spend too much time in front of the television and play video games for a long time. They spend hours sitting and hardly move around. As they do not move around, they do not get the needed exercise, and they become lethargic.
Prevention:
Your family will practice what you preach them. Thus if you want your kids to be healthy, you need to start inculcating good practices in them. You need to tell them the adverse effects of being obese and how it can affect their health and social life. Once the kids understand the complications, they will give away their habits and start living a healthy life.
