Obesity

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Obesity is defined as a situation when a person has more weight than he or she should have. Analysis of ideal or desirable weight is made concerning age and height of any person. Obesity in children is much more dangerous as compared to those in the later stages of their lives because children have long lives ahead, and this obesity issue will hamper their abilities to perform various functions appropriately. Obesity percentage is 18.5, and this issue is affecting 13.7 million children. Distributing obesity affected children by age, we see that 13.9% children from ages 2 to 5 have been affected, 18.4% of children aged 6 to 11 are found obese and 20.6% of children among 12 to 19 years were considered to be obese. On the ethnic basis, Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks have shown the highest percentage of obesity at 25.8% and 22% respectively CITATION Cen19 \l 1033 (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).

There has been enough literature on the effects of obesity on the physical health of children, but the emotional or social effects of this situation have not been explored much. Major emotion effects of obesity include lower self-esteem, negative image of body and personality, clinical depression. Obesity issue has several social consequences in the form of weight bias or stigma.

Weight bias can be defined as a situation where an unreasonable judgment is made about based on a person’s weight. A person who has been a victim of weight bias will show stigma as a social sign. Weight bias is undertaken with a mental standpoint that stigma and shame will urge children to try and lose weight. The US culture does not find anything bad with weight bias because being thin is preferred in society. There is not much attention paid to the environmental factors that cause obesity; rather, obese children are blamed for being in such a situation.

Application of weight bias affects obese children in many ways. They are prone to teasing by their friends and other people around. Discrimination in schools for children and the workplace for adults is a common practice.

Teasing has been a major problem for a large number of children, but it is especially critical for obese children. These obese kids are given nicknames based on obesity e.g., football or elephant. Sometimes they are teased by siblings, and they cannot catch them due to obesity CITATION Reg14 \l 1033 (L.Washington).

In a satirical manner, we can think of a thin kid who thinks what would happen if he becomes obese. At a very young age, he hears advice to avoid certain kinds of foods to remain slim. He often speaks to himself about what he would look like being obese. Some of his mates at the school are obese, and they are always teased by other mates. This teasing is in the form of calling names as well as touching and running away. He thinks that he will not allow such a thing to happen to himself. On the other hand, he admires the way those obese children eat and the variety of food that is available to them. The scariest thing for him is the fact that these obese people are not able to move around as freely as other of their mates. Some of these obese mates seem to be a rolling football while moving. He wants to be a sports person himself, and he often sees mates teasing the obese children by calling them the football. He also wonders how these obese children can find such huge clothes and from where do they get them. Overall, these obese children are in a pitiable condition in the school, and this condition makes this kid adopt such activities which will help him keeping smarter.

The major role in implementing a solution will be played by the parents. They will have to make sure that their children start some minor physical movement. This will be accompanied by some minor change in the eating habits of these kids. Quitting eating unhealthy food will also help to reduce obesity in children CITATION Deb11 \l 1033 (Bagchi). The most important part has to be played by the people living around these obese people. They should motivate them to take part in some physical activities, especially sports. The long-term consequences of this situation should be portrayed in front of these children. The teasing factor should be eliminated, and it should be replaced by guiding and consoling aspects. All the people around should try and guide these obese children to find a way to lose their weight. All these steps will have a positive impact on society as a whole. There will be a considerable amount of saving in terms of food as people will quit eating unhealthy food. The companies will not have to make extra-large clothing, and in fact, thin and smart people will find it much easier to find their clothing sizes. Health care practitioners will have more time attending to more serious patients if obesity is decreased in the country. These professionals will not have to make diet control plans and checkups of obese people when the majority of obese people become smarter. These steps will also reduce the health care costs incurred by the government. There will be a decrease in diseases like cardiovascular and diabetes. All these impacts will mean that the money will now be spent in a better way and on better things.

Works Cited

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bagchi, Debasis. Global Perspectives on Childhood Obesity. Houston: Academic Press, 2011.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html." 2019. https://www.cdc.gov. 26 July 2019.

L.Washington, Reginald. "Childhood Obesity: Issues of Weight Bias." Preventing Chronic Diseases (2014).