Proposal on How to Deal with Obesity in Adolescents
Executive Summary
In the past years, obesity was a condition that only affected the old people. It was never a condition which was known to be a cause for worry for the younger generations. However, with the growth in technology and the globalization aspect, a lot of young people are getting into this problem. Based on this understanding, this essay proposal seeks to find a way through which adolescents can be helped to steer away from this menace. The proposal looks at the causes of obesity, which eventually gives a hint into how the problem can be addressed.
Adolescents are people at their teen years. More often than not, this group is described as the people ranging in age from 13 to 19 years, though it often extends to the early twenties. This is a very dynamic group of people; since they are at the peak of their adolescents. They have a lot of energy and are busy discovering the world around them. More often than not, this is a very difficult group to deal with since they tend to be rebellious and seek their own ways of doing things.
More often than not, they tend to give their social lives quiet a significant portion of their time. This is mainly because they are in the stage of self-discovery and definition. They tend to mind not about some trivial but important aspects in their lives, such as diet and health. For this reason, they tend to fall victims to some issues such as poor dietary habits and other health condition. They have, therefore, fallen into a menace where they are struggling with health condition which was not an initial concern of the adolescents. One of these conditions is obesity.
Description of the Problem
According to Bulmer (1024), obesity can be defined as a medical problem in which an individual has excess body fat. There are two main kinds of obesity which are hypertrophic and hyperplasic obesity. The former is brought about by an increase in the number of fat cells in the body, while the latter comes about due to the increase in size of the fat cells in the body. This condition is associated with quite a number of problems. For instance, it has been greatly associated with the inability of the body to utilize insulin, which eventually leads to diabetes. It is also associated with other degenerative diseases such as heart diseases, hypertension, among other weight related issues (Shepherd 51).
Causes of Obesity
According to Shepherd (52), the main causes of obesity can be associated with a poor dietary habit as well as an unhealthy lifestyle. It is well known that obesity is brought about by accumulation of execs fats in the body. These are gained from excessive calories consumed by an individual. When the body cannot burn up these calories, they are transformed into fats which are then stored under the skin. This leads to the accumulation of weight. Wright and Aronne (731) further indicate that the recent developments have led to the increase of unhealthy and convenient foods in the stores. These are specifically appealing to the young people who have unhealthy eating habits. They end up eating a lot of junk and unhealthy foods simply because they are more appetizing and they are readily available. This, in the long run, leads to the accumulation of excessive fat, culminating to obesity.
An unhealthy lifestyle is also to blame for the increasing cases of obesity. In the globalization era, a lot of people tend to use machines to do a lot of things. Young people are driven to school and collected later in the evening. While at home, they engage in passive leisure activity. The usual riding, skating, swinging and other traditional methods of play and leisure utilization have been replaced by video-games and other online applications. These keep the young people occupied for most of their free time. Eventually, this inactive lifestyle makes them overweight since they are consuming a lot of fatty foods but literally do nothing to try and burn up the excess fats.
Effects of Obesity on the Young People
According to Goncalves et al (51) there are quite a lot of effects that obesity has on the adolescents. First of all, it has a great negative effect on their self-esteem. This is mainly because in the modern society, the lean person is seen as the ideal one. This specifically affects the women who seek to attain the figure that is admired by many. As such, young people who are obese tend to experience a form of stigmatization. This hampers their social lives and can even have an effect on their performance in other areas of life. This is mainly because they feel isolated and apart from the rest. They simply do not fit in.
Shepherd (55) further indicates that the condition can lead to eating disorders for the young people. This is mainly because they try all they can in order to reduce their weight. However, the methods do not seem to work at times. As such, they go of some crude methods which could, in the long run, have a negative effect on their lives. They adopt negative eating habits such as anorexia nervosa, anorexia bulimia, use of laxatives, and other habits which have negative health effects (Bulmer 1025). Based on this understanding, there is a need to make sure that a solution is derived for the young people before they become fully consumed by the obesity menace.
Proposed Solution
As observed by Wright and Aronne (731), the solution to this problem can be attained by having measures to counter the causes. Therefore, this proposal has it that in order to prevent the obesity menace from consuming the young people in the society, some of the measures that need top be put in place are as follows.
Nutritional Counseling
As Bulmer (1025) observes, the main reason as to why the young people adopt the unhealthy eating habits is because they do not understand the possible implications that this might have on their lives. As such, there is the need to raise awareness on the need for good food choices which can help in improving their health. This can be done by organizing open days where the adolescents are invited to be trained on the nutritional issues. These events can also be planned in conjunction with other players who work for the well being of the adolescents, such as adolescents groups and movements, outreach to schools and other forums in which the adolescents can be reached. This can go a long way in helping to reduce the problem.
Encouraging a Healthy Lifestyle
This has to be done in conjunction with the parents. As already indicated the only way to prevent the spread of the condition is by reducing the caloric intake and also by burning up the excess fat. This can be realized through exercising. Therefore, on top of advising the young people to try and engage in physical exercises, there is also the need to make sure that the parents contribute to the same. The adolescents should be helped to plan their leisure time well so that they are not exposed to the problem.
Justification
It also has to be noted that the condition tends to reduce the productivity of the young people since they have to spend a lot of time trying to get back in shape. This takes up a lot of mental and physical energy, making them less productive. As such, helping them to get over the problem can be a great advantage since it can proportionately increase their productivity levels. Furthermore, the condition can be associated with poor health in the latter adult years. Preventing the condition in the young people therefore, can be a good proactive measure to safeguard the health of the future generation.
Works Cited
Bulmer, Ernest. “The Menace of Obesity.” Br. Medical Journal, 4.1(2012): 1024-1026.
Goncalves, Helen et al. “Adolescents’ Perception of Causes of Obesity: Unhealthy Lifestyles or Heritage?” Journal of Adolescent Health, 2.46(2012): 46-52.
Shepherd, A. “Obesity: Prevalence, Causes, and Clinical Consequences.” Nursing Standard, 51.8(2009): 51-58.
Wright, Suzanne, & Aronne, Louis. “Causes of Obesity.” Abdominal Imaging, 37.5(2012), 730-732.
