Childhood Obesity – What The Future Looks Like (Hint – Not Good)
Obesity in children has been getting press coverage for ages. Even in the US where this has reached epidemic proportions, the press coverage has made little difference.
We all know what the causes of obesity are, so we will not talk about this or assign blame for it. In the later years of a child’s life they can have major health dangers or even have their life threatened if they are obese or overweight now. Physical and psychological areas are suffering in a noticeable percentage of this entire generation. Being overweight will make peers be brutal, which should not have to be endured as well as being a teen. An obese child has to face some of the following things that we’ll be looking at.
If you are obese then all the physical areas of the human body will be under stress. If a child is overweight then this may cause them to have sleep apnea, which can be potentially dangerous. Problems can also occur in normal breathing as well if a child is obese.
Because of a weight condition, a child can develop asthma. A different term used is exercise intolerance and it is when something challenges your normal breathing process. People that are overweight seem to always have labored breathing and you may have noticed this. Because your body is having to work harder, it has to breathe harder, so this is a natural response. Your cardiovascular system is just going to get more stress on it because of this.
Mostly the risks will develop in your cardiovascular system. Not only do obese children have elevated cholesterol but they also have generally fatty blood profiles which involves triglycerides. These heart diseases need to be stopped straight away due to their tendency to develop early on in life. So, just imagine a very young person taking prescription medication to counter the effects of high cholesterol. An adult has to accept the side effects if they want to start taking this medication.
A teen or young child may find it complicated to take such medicines.
There are a few reasons as to why the prospects do not seem very clear for an obese child. Health problems and diseases are risks that an obese young child has to face when they become an adult. What about being able to reverse this condition?
Well, studies show that obese teenagers are sixteen times more prone to developing into severely obese adults. For these teens, this does not bode well at all. Because the risk factors are developed at an early age, they are likely to have a very poor quality of life as an adult.
Obviously once obese children have reached this point, they are already at intense physical and social disadvantages. We all already understand that losing that amount of weight is difficult and to do it at all, you will need to have a lot of support and determination to do so. Parents and any friends the child has need to be as supportive as humanly possible. Children and young adults are very resilient and can usually bounce back once a more healthy direction is taken. But of course the clincher is whether or not the children already suffer from any major medical conditions.