Childhood Obesity – Dooming Kids For the Rest of Their Lives
September 22nd 2011 -
Lots of scientists, researchers and professionals have been watching this growing trend for decades. Young kids, pre-teens and even teenagers have been slowly and surely gaining more weight and there are severe health consequences to this. A plethora of research and study has been performed in the last twenty-plus years. One thing we know for certain, however, is that obesity that happens when kids are still young carries with it serious risk factors for major diseases later on. It is very important for parents to understand that this story is actually more involved. Clinically obese and overweight kids are going to experience effects from their condition long before they mature into adulthood.
The type and severity of medical conditions that are experienced by young children and teens who suffer from obesity are highly varied. There are quite a few different influences here and some of them are actually genetics. Kids who are severely obese are more likely to develop issues that affect their bones and joints. Load bearing joints, in particular, are more likely to develop issues. Stress on the skeleton is particularly prevalent in the hips, knees, feet and ankles. Kids are going to have to deal with joint pain, typically in their backs as well as constant low swelling around their joints. These kids also are commonly diagnosed with arthritis.
Perhaps one of the oldest expressions out there is that kids are cruel. Most of us have experienced this in some form when we were kids. Kids who suffer from obesity are a lot more likely to have to deal with lots of teasing and, often, being humiliated verbally. It is a marvel how kids who have to go through that can get through all those years of it without losing their sanity. Everybody understands that there are many many consequences of that kind of lasting abuse. The constant assault can have a major impact on things like the children’s self esteem and confidence, etc.
This goes hand in hand with the bullying and general ostracizing the kids encounter at school, it is almost a guarantee that obese children and teens are pretty much guaranteed to develop social disorders. Another term used is social disabilities, and there is the obvious high degree of extreme unhappiness, depression, etc. A natural result from this is an exceedingly high stress level which is widely recognized as having unhealthy psychological and physical problems. One potential reaction is for obese children to become bullies themselves. What, obviously, is happening here is that the behavior is a sign of the anger that has more than likely accumulated from being bullied themselves. Early onset obesity is a real problem that affects even those who do not suffer from it. It is important to look at this also from the standpoint of cost to society. Obese kids will usually become obese adults, and there are costs associated with medical, lost time from work, etc. So this is honestly a societal problem even though that is not how most people think of it.