25 Sep 2022

78

Implementation of Program to Fight Obesity in Public Schools

Format: Chicago

Academic level: College

Paper type: Research Paper

Words: 1784

Pages: 6

Downloads: 0

Background 

Obesity is a major global problem. The highest percentage of obese people are US citizens accounting for about 15% of all obese individuals in the world (Charlie 2014) . It is estimated that about 150 million US citizens are obese or overweight. The problem of obesity in school going kids is persistently increasing. About 12 million adolescents accounting for 17 percent of the total children are obese or overweight in the US (Eric 2006) . Obesity is extreme overweight, especially: weighing more than 20 percent (for men) or 25 percent (for women) over their ideal weight determined by their height and build, or, having a body mass index of over 30kg/m 2 . Obesity is a condition that is easy to notice but poses very complex problems when being treated (Jeffrey 2015) . In this regard, it is important to introduce healthy practices in school such as recess sessions to manage, control and prevent the incidences of obesity. Most schools are focusing on academic excellence and delivery while forgetting to enact programs that help students stay healthy. When students stay healthy, they perform even better in their academics. 

According to reports, poor eating habits, lack of exercise and obesity has lead to a sharp increase in the rates of morbidity and mortality. Since the year 1970, the rate of occurrence of obesity in children have tripled interfering with the lives of kids between 6 to 19 years old. Unhealthy weight gain reduces the life expectancy of individuals. The government spends a lot of money in treating and managing obese condition accounting to over 100 billion dollars a year (Zoe 2015) . This huge sum could have been used in developing other sectors of the economy. Children who are obese are likely to grow into adulthood with the condition unless they adopt corrective measures such as healthy diets or exercise. 80% of the children who are obese end up growing into adulthood when still suffering from the condition (Charlie 2014) . This proposed program is aimed at helping control, manage and reduce the rate of growing obese conditions in children. Further, the program ensures that children stays healthy by doing exercise to avoid other conditions such as varicose veins that arise due to lack of exercise (Eric 2006) . 

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Problems and Prospects 

Obesity poses both short term and long term social, psychological and physical effects to children. Firstly, obesity put children at risk of having high blood pressure. Children who are obese normally have additional tissues in their body, in return, the heart has to pump blood to all the body tissues which increases the workload of the heart (Anne 2017) . This increases the heartbeat rate and increases the blood pressure in artery walls. High blood pressure reduces the ability of the body to transport blood effectively to all tissues leading to problems such as exhaustion and general body weakness (Robert 2017) . Also, children are at a high risk of getting diabetes. Diabetes is usually attached to old age, however, due to obesity in children, the two types of diabetes has become common in children also. Obesity leads to insulin resistance, the hormone responsible for regulating sugar levels in the body. When this occurs, the obese child is likely to diabetic (Zoe 2015) . Obesity increases the likelihood of occurrence of heart attack due to the hardening of arteries caused by high blood pressure. Hardening of arteries can further cause angina and blood clots in the body. Besides, due to extra weight, a lot of load and pressure is concentrated on the joints and hips which could lead to osteoarthritis (Jason 2017) . Damage of joints might prompt the need to do an artificial replacement of joints which further causes health damage and is costly. Other health problem caused by obesity is respiratory problems and sleep apnea. Obesity has the tendency of interrupting breathing process. As a result, children find it difficult to sleep during the night while during the day they have to be in class studying (Jeffrey 2015) . Other health problems associated with obesity are cancer and metabolic syndrome. Obesity is a major facilitator of various types of cancer such as breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men (Robert 2017) . 

In addition to the health effects, obesity has psychological effects in children. Research shows that in every societal setup, ideally, attractiveness is normally attributed to slimness or a considerable body weight. Individuals who are overweight usually have very few friends and culturally considered not attractive (Eric 2006) . Obese students in schools have few friends or do not have friends at all and are always lonely which adversely affects their performance. They are not able to hang out with their friends and engage positively in all activities. They are always blamed for their condition and always considered lazy by their colleagues. Most of the times they are the weak-willed and acts as duffs to their colleagues (Charlie 2014) . They always feel discriminated, indirectly or directly by the actions of their classmates which instils a sense of depression, self-denial, dissatisfaction, self-inadequacy, anxiety, low self-esteem, torment and frustrations (Anne 2017) . 

Research have shown that schools are putting much effort on the academic delivery ignoring health issues of their students. Most of the time that students spend in school are in their classes learning and reading books. Poor health and obesity reduces the concentration of students at class which results to poor performance (Autumn 2005) . It is time that academic progress should be tied together with exercise and good health. When students are healthy, they concentrate in class and give their best thus improved performance. It is time that our kids be taught the principles of living a healthy life by introducing them to routine exercise and healthy food. further, it is time for schools to not only concentrate on the academic excellence of their children but their health as well so that they can produce young individuals with good health who will contribute positively to the society as part of professional geniuses (Jason 2017) . This is the major reason why it is important to introduce the recess sessions in schools’ programs to enable students have a healthy life while studying in schools. 

The importance of physical activity extends far beyond weight management. Exercise is healthy and help to prevent various health conditions and improve the general health of an individual. Apart from weight management, exercise helps to prevent various conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, joint problems, osteoporosis, depression and physical disability (Robert 2017) . Before any school consider refusing to insert recess sessions in their school program, let them first think of the above-mentioned health benefits of exercise that accrue to their students and help reduces the rate of morbidity while improving performance (Charlie 2014) . 

Stroke and heart diseases can be prevented by doing exercise. Exercise helps to lower the blood pressure and strengthens the body muscles. The ability of the heart to pump blood properly is improved by physical exercise thus increasing the overall capacity of the body to work. Exercise also provide additional importance in improving blood flow and help prevent vessel related diseases (Autumn 2005) . Further, exercise reduces high blood pressure. Exercise reduces the concentration of fats in the body and helps burn calories which is associated with hypertension. Burning calories and reducing fats in the body also helps to reduce insulin resistance which deceases the likelihood of suffering from diabetes (Charlie 2014) . 

Previously mentioned, obesity is on the increase among adolescents in the US due to lack of exercise and poor eating habits. Exercise reduces the body fats and help burn calories in the body. Other that burning calories, exercise enable the body to use calories properly. Muscles are straightened and preserved. US is currently the heaviest nation in the world with the rates of mortality increasing everyday among school going children (Charlie 2014) . Introducing regular supervised exercise coupled with good eating habits will help prevent the rising cases of obesity. 

Further, children usually complain of joint pains, back pains and osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is an infection common for the aged, however, it is frightening and worrying that school-going kids have started complaining of the same due to overweight (Jason 2017) . Exercise improves muscle strength which is important in preserving muscles. When muscles are strong, the body becomes more flexible which help improve posture and reduce joint and back pains (Anne 2017) . 

Psychologist have also proven that there is a relationship between exercise, self-esteem and stress management. Children develop stress due the experiences that they undergo. Exercise is a psychological therapy that help mold the feeling of self-worth (Charlie 2014) . Exercise is also associated with good moods. It is proven that exercise help molds good moods in individuals. Children who exercise always have a reduced effect of anxiety and depressions and thus are good stress managers. In schools, stress is one of the major causes of poor performance, exercise will enable children to be good stress managers (Jeffrey 2015) . Further, it is observed that disability at old age is usually caused by lack of exercise at childhood. Enabling the children to have compulsory exercise at young age will enable them have long term benefits at adulthood when they will be battling with old-age disability (Zoe 2015) . 

It is undeniable that exercise does not only improve our health but also help in building confidence, self-esteem and self-acceptance among children in the society. The relationship between good health and education is improved performance. The implementation of recess sessions in learning programs may reduce the learning time but will improve learning outcome (Jeffrey 2015) . There are a lot of benefits that occur to healthy students not only in their personal life but also in their acceptance by their society and academic well-being. Why should we spend all the time in our learning facilities entirely for classwork while we neglect our own health? This is the major question that should linger in our minds. Having the qualifications and knowledge background is good, but the major problem is on the effectives of service delivery in the job market. Good health means positive energy and preparedness to face any workplace challenges and trends (Robert 2017) . Healthy children can pursue their dreams without any fear or obstructions while on the other hand unhealthy children’s dreams are hindered by their poor health conditions (Charlie 2014) . If the nation raises healthy children, the economy of the nation will be preserved for generation to generation. 

Conclusions 

Schools have a role in supporting students-health initiatives such as exercises sessions which are aimed at improving the health and the overall well-being of students. Also, it is critical to understand the negative consequences of poor health and obesity in the life of children today and in their future lifestyle. The decision to implement recess sessions in academic institutions is consequentially a good idea because it will not only improve academic performance but also improve the overall well-being of our children. Adolescent and childhood stages is an important stage in human development and it must be handled with care. This is why exercise would be a good measure towards achieving all the positive health benefits discussed above. Healthy children have improved learning concentration and positive attitudes towards studying. Succinctly, exercise improves health, which in turn improves learning experience. When students exercise, they relax their mind, which is important in shaping their moods and behavior (Anne 2017) . Children who exercise are more alert than the ones who do not. Further, the number of obese children is fast increasing, a mix of exercise and healthy feeding habit will help reduce the number of children who become obese (Autumn 2005) . 

References 

Anne, R. Reeves. 2017. Where Great Teaching Begins: Planning for Student Thinking and Learning. New Orleans: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 

Autumn, Libal. 2005. The Importance of Physical Activity And Exercise: The Fitness Factor (Obesity Modern Day Epidemic). Philaldelphia: Mason Crest. 

Charlie, Wardle. 2014. The Real Benefits of Exercise . New York: Brown Dog Books. 

Eric, J. Oliver. 2006. Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic. New York: Oxford University. 

Jason, Dr. Fungi. 2017. The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss. New York: Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio. 

Jeffrey, R. Sprague. 2015. Safe and Healthy Schools: Practical Prevention Strategies (The Guilford Practical Intervention in the School Series). Chicago: The Guilford Press. 

Robert, Pool. 2017. Fat: Fighting the Obesity Epidemic. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Zoe, Harcombe. 2015. The Obesity Epidemic: What Caused It? How Can We Stop It? Washington DC: Columbus Publishing Ltd. 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 14). Implementation of Program to Fight Obesity in Public Schools.
https://studybounty.com/implementation-of-program-to-fight-obesity-in-public-schools-research-paper

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