Childhood Obesity In The 21st Century

Childhood obesity has become one of the most serious health issues in the 21st century. In an academic journal, Krushnapriya Sahoo, who works in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and his colleagues claim, “childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in developed as well as in developing countries” (187). Childhood obesity is a global problem that has been increasing at an alarming rate as countries become more developed. Many children in the world are suffering from obesity today when they deserve to be living a happy, healthy life. Obesity is a condition in which a person is considerably overweight compared to his or her age and height (Sahoo et al. 188). In order to be obese, a person has to weight much higher …show more content…
Some people believe that physical education takes away from more important academic subjects such as math and science because students would have to make some space in their schedule to participate in daily physical education. It would cost the schools money to provide daily physical education for all of the students. The schools might have to hire more staffs to teach physical education and buy more equipments needed for the class. Some schools do not have enough space to provide daily physical education, so they have to make a room for it. There is some evidence supporting the expectation that population-based and targeted interventions meeting accepted cost-effectiveness thresholds are available [for obesity] ” (John et al. 837). This proves that there are obesity prevention programs that are actually effective in relation to their costs, which means they are not just a waste of money. “Even with the implementation of school-wide programs for obese students, the problem of successfully mainstreaming obese children in the regular physical education class remains a cause for concern” (Green et al. 917). The problem with requiring all school aged children to take part in physical education is that physical education can become a main place for obese children to become bullied. When the class divides into teams, they can become the last people to be selected, which would lower their self-esteem. They would struggle to do the same things that their fit peers can do and be made fun by their peers. However, intervention programs would help prevent more children from being obese and having to deal with their peers’ constant teasing about their weight. Since health can impact all aspects of a person’s life, staying healthy should be an important