Being overweight and becoming obese is a growing epidemic among children and adults in the United States. Several trends appear to contribute to our burgeoning girth. Our children seem to be gaining weight, spending more time playing videogames, and spending less time exercising or engaged in physical activity. These converging trends are no accident. Kids spend more time playing video games than they used to, spend less time being physically active, and are eating more unhealthy food. The amount of time that kids spend playing videogames seems to be a lynchpin in this spiral toward obesity and ill-health.
Definitions and Trends
A child is considered overweight if she is above the 95th percentile in body mass index (BMI) on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s growth chart. The American Heart Association (AHA) reports that using this standard, increasingly more children are becoming overweight. From 1971 through 1974, about 4 percent of children between the ages of 6 to 11 were overweight. During the period of 2003 to 2006, a mere three decades later, this number quadrupled up to 17 percent. From 1971 to 2006, the percentage of overweight adolescents rose from 6.1 percent to 17.6 percent. The trend for adults is equally grim. The CDC reports that from 2007 to 2008, about one third of adults were obese. It seems that more adults are overweight or obese now than at any other time in our history.
Risks
The expanding waistline of American children comes with a cost. According to pediatricians at University of Michigan Health System, children who are overweight have an increased risk for a variety of illnesses and conditions, including pre-diabetes and diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hyperlipidemia (too much fat in the blood), sleep apnea, breathing problems, gastrointestinal diseases, early puberty, and psychological problems such as poor self-esteem and depression. Moreover, the AHA reports that children who are overweight or obese are at greater risk to be overweight or obese as adults, rendering them vulnerable to a slew of additional weight-related health risks.
Increase in Videogame Playing
The Media Literacy Clearinghouse reports at FrankWBaker.com that during the 10-year period spanning 1999 to 2009, videogame use in children between the ages of 8 and 18 years more than doubled, going from an average of 26 minutes per day in 1999 to 73 minutes per day in 2009. Overall media use, including tv, music, computer, video games, print and movies, increased from 6 hours, 19 minutes average per day in 1999 to 7 hours, 38 minutes in 2009.
Link to Videogames
As reported at HealthCentral.com, researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University Hospital of Zurich published a study in the journal of Obesity Research in 2004 that establishes a strong link between playing videogames and childhood obesity. In this study of more than 800 first through third graders in Switzerland, the researchers found that children who spent more time playing videogames were more sedentary and were more overweight.
Conclusions
These dangerous trends can be reversed with conscious effort. Two factors explain the link between playing videogames and being overweight. Kids who spend more time playing videogames are less active, and they tend to eat more high-calorie snack foods. Parents should control their children's game playing, and should improve their children's diet. To accomplish this, parents can limit the amount of time children play passive video games. Also, parents can set rules that require the child to be physically active before playing videogames. Finally, parents should limit the amount of food and provide healthier food and snack options for their children.
Member Comments