Physical and Emotional Consequences of Obesity - Essay Example

?Childhood Obesity There is a growing problem of obesity in children and adolescents that needs to be addressed. Understanding what exactly obesity is and how it manifests in children is the first step in finding effective solutions to the problem. To examine the problem there must first be a definition of obesity. As The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry explains, obesity in not just a few extra pounds of weight that a person has, but it may indicate a problem developing. They explain that a “child is not considered obese until the weight is at least 10% higher than what is recommended for the height and body type”. Obesity is defined in terms of body mass index (BMI), with the following quantities - DBMI 25-30 = overweight, BMI 30+ = obese and BMI 40+ or 100+ pounds over recommended weight = morbidly obese. This child may also indicate a tendency to gain weight easily, and therefore signal the need for changes in diet and exercise. It is not uncommon for obesity to begin early in childhood, between the ages of five and six, and also during the adolescent phase. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry quotes figures between 16 and 33% of children and adolescents as being obese. The problems associated with obesity start with the increasing numbers of amount of children and adolescents manifesting obesity. According to Li and Hooker the percentage of obese children, 6 – 11 yrs old, “more than doubled in the past two decades”, and for adolescents, 12- 19 years old, it “more than tripled” (97). They also point out that the United States is not the only country with such trends as similar trends have been reported in countries such as England and China. This global trend of increasing incidence of obesity is corroborated by Colls and Evans as they report that in the UK obesity has doubled over the past 25 years so that nearly a quarter of adults and approximately 10% of children are obese. They predict that by 2025 40% of Britons will be obese. (99). Related to the alarming figures of increase in incidence is the other concern that “the child who is obese between 10 and 13 yrs old has an 80% chance of becoming an obese adult”(American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2008). This likelihood that childhood obesity will lead to the problem in adulthood increases with the earlier onset and also with the severity of the problem (Merton, Wickam, and Williams 1111). These authors also point out that when obesity is experienced early in life it strongly relates to physical disabilities in adulthood. Understanding the problem of obesity and so trying to find solutions require understanding the causes of obesity and the effects of obesity on the body. Various factors have been identified as contributing to obesity, including genetic, behavioral, biological and cultural factors. Obesity is generally seen as the result of a person taking in more calories than they burn up. In some instances it is a physical problem where something is not working right in the body; but in other cases it is a behavioral issue where the person needs to be more physically active in order to burn more calories. In cases where more exercise does not reduce the obesity a genetic component may be involved. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry suggests several other factors that can be related to obesity, apart from the common duo of poor eating habits and lack of exercise, including some medical illnesses such as endocrine or neurological problems and some medications (e.g. steroids and other psychiatric drugs), depression and other stress causing incidents in life. The consequences of obesity are numerous and serious and can be physical or biological and emotional. Obesity is responsible for hundreds of deaths every year. The list of physical consequences of obesity is long. Among these are: heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, insomnia, and mobility issues (AACAP, 2008). Perhaps the most crucial is the effects on heart diseases. Obesity is linked with increased risk of heart diseases and heart failure. From among the more predominant emotional effects of obesity, difficulty making friends, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder have been generally manifested. Colls and Evans also suggest a relationship between obesity and a range of diseases including heart disease, some cancers and type 2 diabetes. According to them “It is claimed, therefore, that obesity severely restricts a person’s capacity to live a ‘normal’ healthy life and can lead to a premature death” (99). Merten et al also mention such risks as lower-body disability, hypertension, orthopedic and endocrine disorders. They focused on the psychosocial consequences of obesity and overweight in adolescents. They reported that particularly for girls, for whom body image is so important at this stage, girls with depressive symptoms due to high BMIs have been found to have continued depressive symptoms in adulthood (p. 1113). Their study showed that obesity in adolescents affected educational achievement and aspirations to higher education degrees when they became young adults. In summary the authors state that “obesity during adolescence puts individuals at risk for a life-long struggle with poor mental health” (P. 1118). Managing and treating obesity has not been easy. The two major approaches to treating obesity are - reducing food and calorie intake and increasing physical exercise. The general recommendations include changing eating habits to include controlling portions and consuming less calories; increasing physical activities especially walking and making lifestyle more active; limiting snacks, and eating meals as a family instead of while watching television or being at the computer. Li and Hooker have indicated that the hours spent watching television or playing video games is positively associated with the BMI value (99). To this end many schools have been putting measures in place that include improving their physical education programs, introducing healthy diets into the school cafeterias and removing vending and soda machines. The problem is not only an individual or even family issue, but is tied to the environment and thus there is the need for the ecological systems approach. Flora and Gillespie suggest a community approach to solutions to the problem of obesity (114). They outline a number of community efforts to reduce obesity by bringing together whole communities to reduce the multiple factors in the community that contribute to childhood obesity. The focus is on the assets that already exist in the community. One example of a program is the Food and Fitness Initiative which is sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation and exists in nine communities in the US. This community approach brings people together to engage in interactions that support each other. Community and school gardens can help to produce healthy fruits and vegetables to improve diets. This can then be extended to farm-to-school and farm-to-hospital programs to provide produce to the whole community. They however recognize that growing good food alone will not prevent childhood obesity. Changes in behavior and attitude must also take place. Educating parents and others about the dangers of obesity is important. The community must also form networks to support and motivate obese people to exercise. There must be financial intervention to help to reduce cost of fruits and vegetables and to provide recreational areas for the children and adults, for example parks, safe swimming places, bike paths, etc. The school environment has been a crucial area to direct efforts to combat the problem of obesity. As a result of the attention on the need to address obesity two longstanding federal programs have gained renewed interest. (Millimet, Tchernis, and Hussain). The School breakfast program and the National School Lunch program which affect more than thirty million children on a daily basis were both affected by the nutritional requirements established by Congress in 1995 in the School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children. No more than thirty percent of the meals’ calories were allowed to come from fat and less than ten percent must be from saturated fats. In addition the meals must provide a certain amount of protein, calcium, iron and Vitamins C and A. The authors however found that the breakfast was making a positive impact on controlling the weight of the students and is helping in fighting the problem of obesity. The lunch however was not having a positive effect. Further efforts must be extended. Changing diet and increasing exercise are not effectively addressing the problem. There seems to be other factors that must be taken into consideration for positive results. Wilson examined intervention programs to examine some of the factors that help to make these programs effective. One of the things the author stresses is that it is important to increase self-concept and motivation, especially of adolescents in order to get them to change their behavior and attitude to their diet and exercise. Another important factor is family involvement and parental support. When parents themselves are active and eat healthily, it encourages the children to do the same. It is important to establish proper eating habits right from the start. Parents can control the availability of fast food and unhealthy snacks. Parents are in control of children’s eating habits from the beginning and so they need to be provided with sound information and guidance on healthy eating. Obesity is a serious problem that affects many people of all ages. Therefore it must be addressed very forcefully. The intervention and prevention programs must have the support and help of several professionals including social workers and/or other mental health professionals, pediatricians, nutritionists and physical activity specialists. Works Cited American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2008). “Obesity in Children and Teens”. Facts for Families Web 13 April, 2011, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/obesity_in_children_and_teens Colls, Rachel and Bethan Evans. “Re-thinking the Obesity Problem”. Geography 95. Part 2. (2010): 99-105. EBSCO Flora, Caroline and Ardyth Gilliespie. “Making Healthy Choices to Reduce Childhood Obesity: Community Capitals and Food and Fitness. Community Development 40 (2009): 114-122 Li, Ji and Neal Hooker. “Childhood Obesity and Schools. Evidence From the National Survey of Children’s Health. Journal of School Health 80. 2 (2010): 96-103. EBSCO Merten, Michael, K. Wickrama. and Amanda Williams. “Adolescent Obesity and Young Adult Psychosocial Outcomes: Gender and Racial Differences”. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 37 (2008): 1111-1121 ProQuest Millimet, Daniel, Rusty Tchernis and Mune Husain. “School Nutrition Programs and The Incidence of Childhood Obesity. Journal of Human Resources. 45. 3 (2009): 640-654. EBSCO Wilson, Dawn. “New Perspectives on Health Disparities and Obesity Interventions in Youth. Journal of Pediatric Psychology 34. 3 (2009): 231-244 EBSCO Read More