Detecting and Dealing with Childhood Obesity

13-06-2015   |   Posted By: Admin   |   1830 View(s)

Dealing with Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is a medical concern that involves a child having a weight that’s abnormally higher than his/her ideal weight. Childhood obesity affects toddlers to adolescents and if not detected and treated in time, can lead to serious health conditions. Physical health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol levels are the most common outcomes of childhood obesity. Apart from the physical consequences, obesity also leads to extremely low self-esteem issues at a very young age often leading to even serious forms of mental illness like depression.

A regular weight check is a good idea to stay on track when it comes to obesity. But often the intervention of an expert is always necessary to arrive at any conclusion. Doctors carry out detailed research and tests which help in understanding them whether the child is suffering from childhood obesity. Childhood obesity can be a result of a genetic disorder that passes on from generations after generations.

It can also be due to lifestyle disorder. With fast paced life, children are more inclined towards junk food and technology-related activities like playing games on mobile or watching TV. All this leads to a high-calorie and low activity lifestyle leading to obesity at a very young age.

Usually, an obese child shows depressing traits like refraining from socialising, showing less interest in community-building activities, etc. They are generally very conscious about their appearance and undergo low self-esteem. It is important for parents to take the initiative to motivate their children to fight obesity with a healthier life. Parents themselves need to be a role model for their children by leading an active lifestyle themselves.

Let your daily life and entertainment include going out to parks and playing outdoor games rather than watching television or gaming. All this helps your child to open up and become more active. These are the basic steps to fight against childhood obesity. One cannot push children directly towards intensive workout and dieting. Such rash planning can affect them both psychologically and physically.

Childhood obesity if not detected and treated in time can lead to serious health conditions in young children. Lifestyle diseases like diabetes, cardiac problems, high cholesterol levels and bone problems are very common occurrences in obese children. Childhood obesity takes away the everyday happiness that a child deserves. Obese children need to be dealt with very tenderly. Apart from counselling, motivation and healthy diet can do wonders in bringing about a drastic change in the life of an obese child.

So the bottom-line is that obesity, especially in children, is a rather serious problem. There are a lot of cases wherein the child is obese during the early stages of childhood but becomes quite normal later on.So in case the obesity persists over a number of years, Adequate care should be taken to address the problem at the earliest and should not be delayed as delaying will only lead to disastrous consequences which should be avoided at all costs.