Obesity Discourses and Physical Education - Essay Example

Obesity Dis s and Physical Education An academic featured video, being posted in a popular online video website, showed a boy d Tom. Tom was a slim young boy, and he only weighed 45kg and he was 152cm when he was just 12 years old. The illustrated video had then showed Tom stretched horizontally and slight grow few inches vertically. Text appeared "22 years old". When Tom turned 22, he is weighing 140kg with the height of 178 cm. Figure 1 the video documentary about Tom and obesity (video courtesy of YouTube) Narrator explained that Body Mass Index (BMI) is the way how to discern if one is in healthy shape or not. Weight over Height times 2 is the given formula. Animatedly, they computed 12 year-old Tom's weight and height in the given formula: thus 45kg/1.52m(x2). Answer revealed to be 19.3 next to it BMI was written, indicating that the body mass index of 12 year-old Tom. Next is the computation of 22 year-old Tom's Body Mass Index: thus 140kg/1.55m(x2). His BMI revealed to be 58.2. All the text and numbers were erased. In it says that the BMI of 12 year-old Tom corresponded to Normal Weight Range. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered to be normal weight. Lesser than 18.5 is considered to be underweight, while 30.0 up to 34.9 BMI is considered to be overweight. Plotted next is 22 year-old Tom's BMI. His 58.2 BMI corresponded into class 3 obesity or what the narrator classified as morbidly obese. Less than 39.1 up to 35.0 is class 2 obesity and lesser than 34.9 which is up to 30.0 is class 1 obesity. Narrator cited that factors of his irregular BMI into fats, sugars, and salt. These are the ingredients that are rampant in to the common food that Tom had been eating combined with lack of exercise, "it resulted into a one chubby Tom," he said. Latter part of the video showed the tomb of Tom who died afterwards; he was 22 years old then. Obesity is a serious disease. Organs are affected when one is overweight, much more if he is classified with obesity. One of the most in the affected organs is the heart, due to the possible artery blockage. (Medline Plus, 2008) According to the U.S. Surgeon General in their work Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity (2001), "overweight and obesity result from an energy imbalance. This involves eating too many calories and not getting enough physical activity". In it they also cited that "body weight is the result of genes, metabolism, behavior, environment, culture, and socioeconomic status." (Medline Plus, 2008) Along with these claims, they provided that in state of obesity, one is more likely prone to have diabetes, stroke, arthritis, and some cancers. In direct medical definition, obesity means having too much body fat, which is different from being simply overweight, it weighs beyond that. (Medline Plus, 2008) What is alarming is the report of the rapid increase of obesity case in the United States of America and in Australia. Baker Heart Institute reported in their study, Australia Future Fat Bomb (2005) that there are 14,000 adults in Australia that is obese. (Medindia, 2008) In the estimation, there are 70 percent of men 60 percent of women. Ages are ranging from 45 to 65 years old, having the BMI of 25 and greater. The estimation of the statistics outweighed even the United States of America. (Medindia, 2008) In United States a dramatic increase took place during the past 20 years. It was cited that "thirty states had prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; thereof these states (Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee) had a prevalence of obesity equal to o greater that 30%." (Medline Plus, 2008) U.S. Surgeon General also added that "behavior and environment play a large role causing the people to be overweight and obese. These are the greatest areas for prevention and treatment actions." (Medline Plus, 2001) Similarly to the medical experts, the "obesity crisis" received wide spread attention from sport educators, researchers, health experts and the media and they argue, that children are getting heavier and less physically active. The Chief executive of the Australian Sports Commission called today's children couch potato generation referring to the fact, that they spend a great amount of time in front of the television and computer. (Conway, 2003, as cited in Tinning, McCuaig & lisahunter 2006:81) Gard (2006) cited Powel (2000) who described today's children "cotton-wool generation who could mostly only play under adult's supervision." They are driven to school, picked up from school, eat high-fat junk and they are lazy, he claims. Adapting healthier eating habits and encouraging children to get more physically active therefore are the main goals experts want to achieve and they believe parent involvement is crucial. Research shows, that rigid, restrictive diets are harmful and ineffective to children and good nutrition is especially important for growing bodies and a balanced, healthy diet is recommended.(Barbara, Brehm 2006: 34). Parents need to be aware, that banning junk food from their kids is not the solution, as kids will want it more. Parents need however provide wholesome, nourishing foods for their kids and encouraging structured meals for their children (Clark 2006:28-29). "13 ways parents can help children be more physically active" is a helpful guide for parents, which provides specific, effective strategies to encourage movement for their children outside of physical education classes. (Rosengard, Sallis & McKenzie, 1997: 25-26) Several researches show, that the most prevalent reason why youths participate in sport is to have fun. According to expert, one way for a child to have a positive experience in sport is to create a climate that emphasizes learning and improvement. The main aspect of sport shouldn't be the win/loss record, but the child's own effort and approach to the sport. (Roberts, 2001, as cited in Gano-Overway, L.A 2001:1-3). Similarly Strean & Holt (2000) cited Wankel & Sefton (1989) as finding:" Winning does not appear to be as important to players' fun as performing well and facing realistic challenges in games where something is at stake." Weiss (1993, as cited in in Strean & Holt (2000) suggested, that we must turn children on to physical activity "by making it enjoyable so that they keep coming back because of their intrinsic motivation to be involved in physical activity". A Canadian research was conducted on 2000 (Strean & Holt) aiming to "to explore perceptions about what enhances and detracts from children's fun during youth sport experiences in practice and competition." It was participated with 47 participants to complete the concept maps, while 17 participants were interviewed. (Strean & Holt, 2000) The study revealed that "perception form players, coaches, and parents seems to be that games in practices are fun." They viewed the drills to be "boring", but through the process they came to know to themselves that those are fairly important as well. (Strean & Holt, 2000) Researcher and sport educator Michael Gard is concerned, the "war on obesity" will result in physical education classes into weight-obsessed adults activities like aerobocs,circuits and laps around the oval. Children will be able to endure unnecessarily boring, unpleasant, ill-conceived, pointless and even unsafe physical and health education experiences in schools." (Tinning, et al., 2006, p.86) Gard is skeptical about the obesity crisis. He refers to researchers, who claim that "weight by itself has virtually no effect on people's medical health except in case of extreme obesity." (Campos, 2004, as cited in Tinning, McCuag & lisahunter, 2006:80) and that "children's physical activity is not affected very much if at all, by the amount of television they watch (Grund at al. 2001: 1246, as cited in Tinning et al., 2006: 85) Gard is not the only expert who represents the view, that the obesity crisis is exaggerated. Corbin (2002 as cited in Cale & Harris, 2007) claims, that "much talk about about lack of fitness of our youth is hyperbole." He warns, that just because kids can do vigorous activities, it does not mean that they should. "Physical activity must be individualized for kids," he says. The Australian Department of Education developed a policy requiring schools to implement programs where all students participate in 100 minutes of physical activity a week as a consequence of students' low fitness level ((J. Tippet, personal communication, November 17, 2008). Conclusion. Primarily what is needed to solve obesity as social and health threat is an extensive awareness for everyone. Starting from its classifications, and its disturbing effect, extending to the minute details and the proven preventive measures - these are all the necessary information that the public, especially the children who were in their founding stage of physical structure, need to get aware of. Fairly important as well that must follow is the application of the preventive measure. As being discussed, Physical Education will play the vital role for its solution. As early as primary stage, children must be taught with various effective approaches as preventive measure, from the simplest physical application up to the most complex motions. References American College of Sports Medicine (April 12, 2006). "Lessons in youth activity" retrieved from 06.December http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfmSection=Home_Page&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5364 http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/adult_BMI/metric_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.htm Brehm, Barbara A "Positive Lifestyles for kids" SIRC Retrieved December 5 2008 at http:// www..sirc.ca/online_resources/free_newletter_articles/s-1038306.cfm Gano-Overway, L.A. "Creating positive experiences for youth: What parents can do to help"SIRC Retrieved December 5, 2008 at http:// www.sirc.ca/online_resources/free_newsletter_articles/s-818056.cfm Obesity News. Medindia.Com. "Obesity Rate Higher in Australia than in US: Study". Retrieved December 2, 2008 at http://www.medindia.net/news/Obesity-Rate-Higher-in-Australia-Than-in-US-Study-38219-1.htm Obesity. Medline Plus. "Overweight and Obesity: Contributing Factors". Retrieved December 1, 2008 at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/obesity.html Rosengard, P., Sallis, J., McKenzie, T "13 ways parents can help children more physically active" SIRC. Retrieved December 5, 2008 at http:// www.sirc.ca/online_resources/free_newsletter_articles/s-818056.cfm Strean, W. B., & Holt, N.L (2000) Coaches', athletes', and parents' perceptions of fun in youth sports: assumptions about learning and implications for practice. Avante (Gloucester, Ont.), 6 (3), 83-98 Tessa & Simon. (October 6, 2008) Obesity documentary. Podcast retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watchv=aYOoEXgjnLs Tinning R, McCuaig L, lisahunter "Teaching health and physical education in Australian schools. Gard M, "HPE and the obesity epidemic" page 80 www.achper.org.au http://wopared.parl.net/house/committee/haa/obesity/subs/sub061.pdf "Inquiry into obesity in Australia" Campos, P. (2004) The Obesity Myth: Why America's obsession with Weight is Hazardous to your Health, New York: Gotham books Vermeer, T (2004) "Unhealthy kids face a lifetime of obesity" The Sunday Telegraph, and 30 May: 4-5 page 81 Conway, D (2003)"Aussie sport is in crisis", Geelong advertiser, 4 December: 1, 54 page 81 Grund, A., Krause, H., Siewers, M., Rieckert, H. & Mueller, M.J.2001). "Is TV viewing an index of physical activity and fitness in overweight and normal weight children Public Health Nutrition, 4(6): 1245-1251. American College of Sports Medicine (April 12, 2006). "Lessons in youth activity" retrieved from 06.December http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfmSection=Home_Page&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5364 Read More