...Recently, obesity has become an epidemic in America. The condition has accelerated in the past thirty to fifty years, and its health effects are devastating.Obesity among American youth has doubled in the past 3 decades , and now more than two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese (Ogden et al., 2014). However, obesity has also become a major public health problem in many parts of the world too. According to the findings published in the journal Circulation, worldwide 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women are now overweight, and 24 percent of men and 27 percent of women are obese .In Malaysia,reports reveals that 49 percent of women and 44 percent of men in Malaysia were found to be obese (The Lancet,2014). As the sayings goes “the longer your waist line, shorter your lifeline.” U.N. World Health Organization report reveals that overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths. At least 2.8 million adults die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. However, the number of children who are obese is also growing at an alarming rate. Globally, in 2010 the number of overweight children under the age of five is estimated to be over 42 million. Currently, in Malaysia, 1 in every 5 school-going children is overweight or obese. In this paper,the first part we will discuss about what is obesity.The second part,we will explain the causes of childhood obesity.Lastly,we will suggest a few ideas can be implemented in the classroom on how...
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...The Prevention of Childhood Obesity begins with Physical Education Introduction and Thesis: In today’s society obesity has risen greatly, causing a major health concern, in children, in part this is due to unhealthy food choices and physical inactivity. The percentage of overweight children from 1980 to present time has more than doubled. Eighteen percent of children six to eleven years olds are considered over weight and seventeen percent of twelve to nineteen year-old adolescents are weight, and the number of children between the ages of two to five has almost tripled in the last forty years. (The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2005 as per Fogel, Miltenberger, Graves, Koehler, 2010) The scope of this paper will include definition of childhood obesity, techniques used to measure obesity in children, health concerns related to childhood obesity, physical activity, and issues that impact quality Physical Education in a positive way, and an action plan that will improve motor skills of children. What is childhood obesity and how is it Measured? Obesity is defined as “an excessive accumulation of body fat.” (Green, Riley, & Hargrove, 2010) The Center of Disease Control (2012) defined obesity in children or adolescents as individuals with a body mass (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile. The methods for measuring obesity in children are to measure the thickness of their skin folds, height, weight and their body mass index...
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...promote students to be active and healthy through out their life time. Having an adequate physical education program can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, increase a child self esteem, prevent childhood obesity, and increase test scores in children. Regular physical activity is associated with a healthier longer life and with a lower risk of heart disease. “Current recommendations are for children to engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day (www.everdaychoices.org)”. Children spend over half of their day at school, so it’s reasonable to require that they should get at least 30 minutes of that time at school. Heart disease is a growing epidemic among Americans. Laying down a foundation that encourages children to get physical helps reduce the risk of them developing this disease later in life. In a systematic review of physical education programs over a six month time frame showed that exercise program can restore blood vessel function and improve cardiovascular risk factors (www.everdaychoices.org). Georgia performance standards states that children should regularly participate in physical activity (www.georgiastandards.org). The intent of this standard was to connect the physical education with the children lives outside the classroom. This is critical to the children...
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...The PRECEDE-PROCEED model provides a comprehensive structure of assessing health and quality of life needs and for designing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion and other public health programs to meet those needs. PRECEDE: (Predisposing, Reinforcing, and Enabling Constructs in Educational Diagnosis and Evaluation) outlines a diagnostic planning process to assist in the development of targeted and focused public health programs. It has four phases * Phase 1: Social Diagnosis- Identifying the ultimate desired result. * Phase 2: Epidemiological, Behavioral, and Environmental Diagnosis- Identifying and setting priorities among health or community issues and their behavioral and environmental determinants that stand in the way of achieving that result, or conditions that have to be attained to achieve that result; and identifying the behaviors, lifestyles, and/or environmental factors that affect those issues or conditions. * Phase 3: Educational and Ecological Diagnosis- Identifying the predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors that can affect the behaviors, attitudes, and environmental factors given priority in Phase 2. * Phase 4: Administrative and Policy Diagnosis- Identifying the administrative and policy factors that influence what can be implemented. PROCEED: (Policy, Regulatory, and Organizational Constructs in Educational and Environmental Development) guides the implementation and evaluation of the programs designed using PROCEED. ...
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...have high self-confidence, which is very important for the development of a person’s character. Physical education instills the desire to participate, enjoy victory and take defeat positively, developing the overall personality of the character. By making children participate in sports, especially team sports, physical education also imbibes in them a sense of team spirit. Children learn how to work as a team member, organize themselves and function together towards attaining a goal. This in turn improves a child’s overall communications skills and the ability to get along with different kind of people. Physical education helps one gain knowledge about the overall aspects of physical health. In today’s world, several health problems like obesity, anemia, bulimia, and even diabetes, are rampant amongst teenagers. Through physical education, teachers can promote the benefits of healthy and nutritious food and discourage them for having...
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...Obesity, and more specifically childhood obesity, has recently been receiving a great deal of attention by society, but the severity of the obesity crisis seems to be less understood. Obesity in the United States has been deemed a “critical public health threat” (Wang et al., 2008, p. 620) for three reasons. First, overweight children are more likely to grow up to be overweight or obese adults. Second, obesity among adults causes health related problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several cancers, and other health related issues that can result in premature death. Third, in 2000, the United States spent $117 billion dollars towards obesity (Wang et al., 2008, p. 620). Considering this chain of events often begins in childhood, reducing obesity in children could dramatically change the frequency of obesity in the future. Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef and advocate for stopping the obesity crisis, (2010) suggests that the frequency of obesity in children is related to three main external factors: the home, the school and, what he refers to as ‘Main Street’– corporations and businesses in the food industry. In the United States, it is estimated that 31 million children each day each breakfast, lunch or both at school and spend half of their days of the year there (Oliver, 2010). This substantial amount of time spent and meals eaten at school indicates the vast impact the school has on children. Obesity, in simple terms, is essentially caused by a caloric imbalance...
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...example. (30 pts) CAN MEDICATION CURE OBESITY IN CHILDREN? A Review of the Literature In March 2004, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona called attention to a health problem in the United States that, until recently, we have overlooked: childhood obesity. Carmona highlighted that the “astounding” 15% child obesity rate constitutes an “epidemic.” Since the early ‘80s, that rate has “doubled in children and tripled in adolescents.” Now more than nine million children are classified as obese. While the traditional response to a medical epidemic is to hunt for a vaccine or a cure-all pill, childhood obesity has proven more elusive. Lacking success of recent initiatives suggests that medication mightn’t be the answer for the escalating problem. In this literature review, I will consider whether the use of medication is a promising approach for solving the childhood obesity problem by responding to the following questions: 1. What are the implications of childhood obesity? 2. Is medication effective at treating childhood obesity? 3. Is medication safe for children? 4. Is medication the best solution? Understanding the limitations of medical treatments for children highlights the complexity of the childhood obesity problem in the United States and underscores the need for physicians, advocacy groups, and policymakers to search for other solutions. What Are the Implications of Childhood Obesity? Obesity can be a devastating problem from both...
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...School-based Prevention of Childhood Obesity Issue With half of all school-age children (age 2-19) identified as Obese or Overweight (Institute for Alternative Futures, 2008, p. 1) the issue of unhealthy weight has become a critical concern. The market has failed to foster among children the habits required to maintain healthy weight. Therefore, it is essential that the local schools implement programs designed to reduce this occurrence. Specifically, the school district should focus on: 1) healthy eating education, 2) physical activity among students, 3) an emphasis on nutrition in meals offered to students. Background Obesity is widely recognized as one of the USA's leading public health problems. “Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a calculated value based on calculations using weight and height, is used to differentiate between the overweight and the obese. Adults with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 are defined as overweight; adults with a BMI of 30 or above are considered obese.” (Buckle, 2011) Obese and overweight people experience chronic illness, poor health, and more than 100,000 preventable deaths each year. For the average affected individual, obesity has a much greater impact on health status and health care costs than either smoking or heavy drinking. In general, it can be say that root causes of Childhood Obesity are: 1) Families are living in poverty: Low-income communities have the highest rates of overweight and obesity. Low-income communities are often underserved...
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...children and adolescents. Not only does such activity help improve the physical fitness and health of children, but also it is a major key in fighting childhood obesity—a critical health priority for our nation. The health benefits of playing sports and physical activity are well documented. The health benefits that can result from regular participation in sports and physical activity include reducing the risk of developing heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, osteoporosis, and improving metabolic health in youth. Obesity in children and youth has doubled over the past 25 years and will affect 1/3 of all third graders. Compared to those who are inactive, physically active youth have higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness and stronger muscles. Active children also typically have lower body fat levels and have stronger bones. Youth who are regularly active also have a better chance of having a healthy adulthood. Girls who play sports and are physically active will help improve their health and well-being in both short term and the long term of their life. Some of the benefits they will see immediately are a better fitness level , a healthy weight, and stress reduction. In the long term, playing sports and physical activity in youth is a key preventive factor for heart disease, cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease and dementias in later life. Compared to non-athlete peers, female high school athletes are less likely to be sexually...
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...The Importance of Movement in the Classroom “Stop fidgeting! Hold still! Sit down! Stay in your seat!” Can you imagine children trying to learn while their teacher is constantly scolding the students for moving too much at their desks??? Children need to move! Not just for the sake of their physical selves, but also for social, emotional and cognitive development. Movement benefits the whole child. In this essay, I will explain why movement in the classroom is important for the physical, the social, and the academic well-being of students, and also how the teachers’ role can help determine the wellness of their classrooms. Given the alarming facts surrounding the childhood obesity crisis, the state of children’s fitness is clearly the responsibility of all who are involved with children. As early childhood professionals we have a duty to educate the whole child and do our part to help keep our students as healthy as possible. According to The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, it is recommended that young children should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time, except when sleeping. While 60 minutes a day is the suggested minimum, it is further recommended that children accumulate “up to several hours” of physical activity daily (American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 2011). For early childhood professionals, the notion of “accumulation” is reassuring. It means you don’t have to worry about setting aside...
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...Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States. Preventing obesities should be started before pregnancy and continued during pregnancy, and childhood. A woman who is at a healthy weight before pregnancy is less likely to have serious complications during pregnancy and her baby is also less likely to be born, preterm, have birth defects or face childhood obesity. (www.marchofdimes.com) Often, parents have limited knowledge about proper nutrition. They may not recognize the consequences of child obesities. Parents should be taught that obesity could lead to hypertension heart disease, diabetes, and many more related diseases. Preventing child obesities requires family involvement. If Parents make poor nutritional choices and have sedentary life styles, their children will mimic them (www.jfponline.com). It is the nurses’ professional responsibility to educate families and assist them with formulating a strategy of proper nutritional, active, and healthy lifestyle. Nurses can teach parents about the right portion size and come up with strategies to encourage children to increase activity and decrease their TV and game time. Nurses can make a difference by raising awareness for childhood obesities, at national and local government levels, through lobbing and being involved in national organizations and community or local healthcare forces. (Maville, &Huerta, p.56) Nurses are very powerful and trusted by the public; they can fight childhood obesity through...
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...the fact that outdoor physical movement enhances learning, prevents obesity and, encourages social aptitudes. Open-air learning offers a sense of success and can likewise help with social behavioral issues and corporate advancement. Outside play is basic for youthful youngsters in our initial adolescence projects and schools. To begin with, a considerable lot of the formative assignments that youngsters must accomplish—investigating, danger taking, fine and gross engine improvement and the assimilation of incomprehensible measures of essential information—can be most adequately learned through open air play. Second, our way of life is detracting outside play from youthful kids through unnecessary TV and PC use, dangerous neighborhoods, occupied and tired folks, instructive responsibility, end of school break, and scholastic norms that push more formatively wrong scholastics into our initial adolescence programs, in this manner detracting time from playing. In a study which was conducted by teachers observing how movement influences children’s learning, “The teachers felt children needed to ‘get out’ of the classroom to spend time moving outdoors, particularly in natural areas. Teachers expressed that natural areas encouraged learning by inviting children to move and explore the surroundings while.” Instructors find that outside physical development shows youngsters superior to anything sitting in a classroom throughout the day on the grounds that; it connects with understudies...
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...Anthony J Capozzoli Jessica A. T. Gilpatrick Research Paper Final Draft October 12, 2014 How does video games affect youth negatively? One of the main concerns that have constantly been raised against video games is that most of the games feature aggressive elements. This has led many people to assert that this may have a detrimental effect on individuals who play such games. Despite continuing controversy for over 15 years, there has been little in the way of systematic research. The one consistent finding is that the majority of the studies on very young children - as opposed to those in their teens upwards - tend to show that children do become more aggressive after either playing or watching a violent video game. Research suggests that children and teens that playing and watching video games over an extended period of time tend to be more aggressive, are more prone to struggle in school, and more prone to be obese or overweight. One of the ways that the videogames affect children and teens that play and watch for an extended period of time is that they tend to be more aggressive. In “Children, Adolescents, and Television,” it has been stated that even more important than the amount of time spent playing video games is the content of games played (2001). Research shows that up to 90% of all video games contain some sort of violent content and in a survey of 213 adolescents, 99% of boys and 84% of girls said that at least one of their current video games has...
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...Reducing Childhood Obesity Obesity is an epidemic increasing at alarming rates across the country. Obesity is one of the most serious health conditions youth is faced with today. Obesity not only has emotional consequences, but also carries with it many life threatening health risks that affect the quality and quantity of life. Across our country approximately one in three children are overweight or obese (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2010). In Iowa alone, approximately 16% of children are overweight with another 14% classified as obese (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2010). Obesity unaddressed in childhood tends to increase when children enter adulthood (Singh, Twisk, & Van Mechelen, 2008). These statistics worsen when children reach adulthood. An estimated 65% of Iowa adults are overweight, with more than 28% of those ranking as obese (CDC, 2010). This paper will evaluate the concern of weight among school age children. Community health options available to the school-age children of Humboldt County and will provide a plan to reducing obesity rates among the youth. Assessment State statistical information does not include the estimated 8% of children who do not receive medical services in a physicians’ office (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). Physical assessments are an important measurement of a child’s health and well-being. Without these essential assessments children are not properly diagnosed and treated for a variety of...
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...nation. The crisis is obesity. It’s the fastest growing cause of death in America.” According to a government reports, 60 percent of Americans are overweight, and 25 percent are grossly overweight and at medical risk in this country. This condition contributes to approximately 400,000 deaths each year, drains U.S. economy of billions of dollars in direct and indirect medical expenses, disability, and lost productivity. The American culture of obesity is not just a societal trend. It also has strong cultural and economic roots. The economic interests that drive US cultural practices are rarely explained in the media, which makes solving the obesity problem especially difficult. US government officials have become aware of the huge health costs related to diabetes and hypertension, first on individuals, then on the society as whole, through lost productivity and through costs associated with expanding healthcare facilities to serve the increasing number of people with diet-related medical problems. But simple awareness is not enough. Now, when obesity has increasingly becoming a major threat to society and the biggest burden on economy, active government intervention is needed to combat this crisis. Government must develop new economic incentives for businesses and individuals to promote and implement a healthier lifestyle. Obesity is unique in that it is viewed as chronic disease. It is increasing at rates previously only seen with infectious diseases. Obesity is a leading cause...
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