How Much Of A Problem Is Obesity? When thinking about childhood obesity in America what are the factors involved? Are there multiple factors or could there be one major factor that we could have dealt with by now? Also how can the factors be dealt with in order to help the children that suffer from this disease? If obesity can’t be fixed what are the long term affects it can cause on the body? Before we can look at the factors you have to first actually know what is considered obese. There is a whole other category of overweight children, which is a fat accumulation of 10% or less of your ideal body weight, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are obese. You are considered obese when you have an accumulation of fat that is 20% more than your ideal body weight, now we can consider the factors. Obesity is a huge problem in America. The rates of obese children have increased drastically through the years. In 1980 6.5% of children ages six to eleven and 5% of children ages twelve to nineteen were considered obese. But in 2008 children in the age range of six to eleven went to a staggering 19.6% and the age range of twelve to nineteen increased to 18.1%. In 2025 the percentage rate it predicted to increase another 13%. While studying the statistics of obesity rates in America now you have to consider the factors of why so many children are becoming obese. Of course the first factor is the food they are fed. Most Americans do not follow a nutritional diet so therefore their children do not either. It’s usually just more convenient to stop at a fast food restaurant on the way home from work. Fast food restaurants are conveniently located in high traffic areas and near other stores, once again it’s a matter of convenience because Americans seem to be getting busier and busier as time and their lives go on. Even the food we do not pick up, what about the food parents actually cook for their children. With living in the south I have experience with food first hand if its greasier that makes it better. When parents make supper how many actually make something nutrimental and healthy. This could be because fresh vegetables and fruits are more expensive then the food that is fatty and unhealthy. Also you have to consider school lunches that our children eat that we have no control over. Whatever is served that day is what they eat unless you make your child’s lunch and send it with them. How many parents have the time to make their child’s lunch this once again is something we consider an inconvenience. Just from this year with my son I have seen they eat more sloppy joes and pizza than anything else on their menu. The second factor to consider is how much exercise children actually get these days. When it comes to most children’s after school activities it most of the time consists of video games. With the recent video games that have come out in the past ten years you would think that children’s rates of obesity would be decreasing instead of increasing. Most games have gone to a more physical aspect of playing, with actually having to get up and move versus sitting in a chair moving your thumbs. Another reference to schools today is how much time do children spend outside during their school hours? For example my son’s class only goes outside on the playground thirty minutes a day, but that doesn’t include every day. To contribute to their exercise at school they have gym class one hour twice a week. If the time they are actually made to exercise isn’t that much time then how are they burning off the fat they are taking in? The third factor to consider is the psychological side. Of course adults eat to comfort themselves with stress or when something emotional happens they eat to cope, so why wouldn’t children? Children have a harder time dealing with their emotions. They don’t understand what they are feeling and it is hard for them so they also comfort themselves with eating. Especially when children get older and school