Child Obesity - Effects, Causes, and Solutions

Today, the rise in childhood obesity has several causes. The main cause of obesity is certainly children eating too much and/or not performing regular exercise or being generally inactive. The extra calories that are not able to burn up through exercises or physical activities will translate into fat, and when this fat becomes excessive and more, one will become obese. This difference results in weight gain and will vary from children to children that was due to few factors such as genes, health issues, physical inactivity as well as psychological issues also contribute to weight gain and may be what the causes of obesity are.

Effects:

Child obesity is an increasingly prevalent disease. Since 1960 child obesity has risen 54%; some experts estimate the overall prominence of child obesity to be as high as 34.7% of all children ages 3-11.

Child Obesity is the leading cause of Pediatric Hypertension and is associated with type 2 diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease, the leading cause of death in America according to the American Heart Organization.

While obese children generally tend to have poor body images, this is not helped by all the teasing that they tend to have to endure at school and in other social situations with their peers. A lot of times, obese children will skip school or drop out altogether in order to avoid having to confront their peers’ teasing head on.

One of the biggest concerns in recent years has been the rising number of children afflicted with type 2 diabetes – a disease that previously mainly afflicted adults. In the course of the last two decades, the statistics of children and adult afflicted with this disease have risen to fifty percent. Today, nearly thirty percent of all adults and twenty five percent of all children struggle with obesity. What’s more, children who are obese often develop into obese adults.

Being overweight can cause:

Low self-esteem and bullying
Behavior and learning problems
Stress and anxiety
Comfort eating
Depression

Some children and teens eat more than usual when they are bored, angry, or stressed. Over time, the overeating leads to weight gain and tends to bring on obesity. Some children overeat to cope with problems or to deal with emotions, such as stress or boredom. Children who experience psychological abuse from their peers often develop extremely low self-esteem, which may eventually evolve into depression. Obese children often feel isolated and lonely.

Obesity generally starts in childhood and continues in to adulthood. While medical conditions and hormone imbalances are often blamed as causes for obesity, the fact remains that these conditions account for less than one percent of all childhood obesity cases. Nor can the problem be blamed completely on genetics, because oftentimes the problem has more to do with the family’s behavior when it comes to eating habits and exercise.

Child Obesity Solutions

This means making changes in overall lifestyles from eating habits to physical activity. Depending on the age of your child use caution when deciding on a formal weight loss diet program. The good news is that with education and proper guidance, the child obesity statistics can come back down and our kids can enjoy a healthier and happier lifestyle.