Obesity And Physical Education

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Obesity is the next major public health concern in the United States (Eilerman et al.). In the last thirty years, the rate of obesity among adolescents in the United States has quadrupled, and the anatomical health repercussions are being felt (“A Comparison” 16). Health concerns that have a direct correlation with obesity, like heart disease and diabetes, are all on the rise. The issue within society is that few people recognize that obesity is the perpetrator of so many of these health concerns (Ward-Smith 242). For this reason, Americans have created a lifestyle where obesity will continue to exist and likely grow. The American lifestyle has put physical education on the backburner, as the focus is on new technological innovation. With a fast paced culture that demands results instantly, society has created machines to do what used to take hours of physical labor at the push of a button, reducing demand for physical labor. As modern culture has developed in America, demand for a fast paced lifestyle, the rise of the fast food industry, and machines that reduce physical labor paired with a lost emphasis on physical education has resulted in rampant obesity throughout the United States. There is ample evidence that the proportion of the U.S. population with obesity is increasing at an alarming rate (Menifield, Doty, and Fletcher 87). This is frightening because obesity is such a difficult disease to acquire. Obesity is defined as having a body mass index of thirty or higher. Body mass index is found by using an equation that directly correlates an increase in weight to an increase in body mass index (Ward-Smith 242). A normal body mass index is usually around twenty or twenty two. An eight or ten point increase from a normal body mass index to an obese level requires a significant gain in weight without any increase in height, which is why it is so shocking that in 2005, 44 states reported that more than 20% of the population was suffering from obesity (Menifield, Doty, and Fletcher 6). There are some people who have gained “healthy weight”, which is weight in muscle rather than in fat. However, an eight point increase in body mass index requires more than just a thirty or even a fifty pound increase in weight, which is the level that many people experience if they start regularly completing resistance workouts to build muscle. Another main difference between gaining healthy and unhealthy weight is that when unhealthy weight is put on, side effects of the excess fat are felt. These effects can include everything from shortness of breath to heart failure. In the United States, 13% of the population has three or more chronic health problems. Research has proven that overwhelmingly, the main cause of these health concerns is obesity (Frankenfield, Leslie, and Makara). Despite the fact that obese people know about the health problems that they are faced with, many of them continue to overeat. This has left many concerned citizens simply asking why. The answer is that many people are unaware that they are overeating or they are unwilling to accept this reality. Although obesity has begun to receive major attention in …show more content…
Felipe Lobelo, a journalist in the Journal of School Health, wrote about a study on different types of interventions to either prevent or treat obesity. He wrote, “The most successful interventions were characterized by their focus on prevention rather than treatment” (676). He is saying that prevention methods are often more effective than treatment methods for reducing the occurrence of obesity. When physical education was first introduced as a standardized class, the experts who designed it knew that emphasizing prevention of health related diseases would be more effective than treatment of these diseases. One working study on physical education defended this decision after finding sufficient evidence to recommend school based programs aimed at prevention but not at treatment (Lobelo et al. 672). A one hour per day class does not have the means to treat obesity because treating it is a very long and hard process. It requires intense and focused dieting and exercise. A school setting can not provide these resources. Even in its design, physical education is simply a program to educate students about healthy lifestyle

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