The Perfect Exercise for Children

It is a problem that is both emotionally and physically damaging to the children that suffer from it, to the point that the health effects can lead to greater health problems in adult life and, in extreme cases, can be fatal in childhood.

As we operate a business that revolves around the Martial Arts we are in a position to be able to tackle this problem head on and so, on our website, we’re going to try and raise some awareness of the issues regarding childhood obesity, which will support the work we’re already engaged in with our students.

Also, on a regular basis, we will be publishing articles on this site discussing various subjects that relate to this topic in the hope that it will stimulate further debate about this issue and we would welcome your comments and suggestions. If you have any questions you would like answered in more detail, why don’t you come down to the shop for a chat?

So, first and foremost, what is meant by obesity? Well, it is defined as a state in which the individual is overweight to the point that it is detrimental to their health. Essentially it is an excessive accumulation of fat within the body.

There are a number of factors that are seen to cause the problem and it’s usual that in combination they can cause obesity rather than there being a single cause only.

Diet is perhaps the most obvious. Everyone knows that if your diet consists of lots of sugary and fatty foods and drinks then you do not have a healthy diet. What may not be so obvious is that a lot of the packaged ready meals and cans of food, easily available in our stores, are also crammed with ingredients that, whilst they may taste great, are not particularly good for us. Therefore it’s always wise to check the packaging to see what you’re consuming.

It’s preferable to cook all your meals fresh, of course, so that you know exactly what it is you are serving to your family, but we know that with the pressures of modern life, you may not have the time to cook fresh every day.

Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables are vital to any healthy diet but we’re not saying that you should completely cut out all the junk food, candy and soft drinks that your family consume. As adults we can make a conscious decision to eat or not eat certain foods but our children could eat chocolate and drink coke all day long, so we just need to moderate their intake!

The problems caused by a bad diet are often exacerbated by a lack of physical exercise, which affects a good proportion of the adult population, as well as children.

Too much time spent in front of the TV every night and playing video games on consoles and on home computers leads to children spending significant periods of their free time, physically inactive. In one study of 4561 children aged 14, 16 and 18 it found that children were 21.5% more likely to be overweight when watching four or more hours of TV every day, 4.5% more likely to be overweight when using a computer for an hour or more a day and unaffected by potential weight gain from playing video games. This situation is made worse as children will often consume high calorie snacks and drinks during these activities.

When a child takes on board more calories than they burn in a day, that excess energy is stored in the body as fat. If a child spends the majority of their free time on the couch, physically inactive, whilst loading their bodies with excess energy, they will become obese.

The problem can be compounded as some of you may feel that your local environment is not safe enough to allow your children to play in, unsupervised.

So, we understand what obesity is, and what causes it, but what effect can being overweight have on the child concerned?

Well, overeating can result from boredom, low self esteem, and lack of self confidence and depression, which can lead to obesity. This can result in the child being teased and bullied at school, which may continue from family members, at home. This harassment leads to further feelings of low self esteem and depression which causes further overeating. Pretty soon the problem becomes a self sustaining cycle than can be difficult to break.

These feelings, if not resolved, can carry on into adulthood, where behavior becomes more difficult to change and emotional issues more difficult to treat.

As if this isn’t enough for a child to cope with, the physical effects of childhood obesity can be just as serious as it creates numerous health problems, many of which you would normally only expect to encounter within the adult population.

It can create a greater stress on the bones and the joints of a growing individual, affecting future development. Obesity also increases the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer. Children can also run the risk of liver disease, eating disorders and respiratory problems.

A 2008 study found that children who are obese have carotid arteries which have prematurely aged as much as 30 years, as well as abnormal levels of cholesterol.

In simple terms a child has to eat healthily and exercise more and have this lead to a permanent modification of their behavior so that such a lifestyle becomes the norm, in contrast to their previous lifestyle.

These solutions, however, are where the parents need to lead by example. There has to be a sensible approach to calorie intake in that there must be a restriction on the amount of high calorie snacks and soft drinks a child is allowed to consume in any given day. This level needs to be set by the parents, who need to abide by the same rules that they set their children. If they don’t, as children tend to copy the behavior patterns of their parents, it is unreasonable to expect a child to eat healthily if the rest of the family is still eating junk food.

Exercise is important too but we can’t expect children to exercise in the same manner as the adult population. We can’t force them to go to the gym or take up jogging. Rather, kids need something to absorb their attention and keep them occupied, and don’t forget that it needs to be fun. It needs to be a viable alternative to the TV and computer games they know they could be watching or playing instead of being out of the house!

Learning a martial art is one way of achieving this as it makes exercise enjoyable, to the extent that students don’t even realise that they’re engaged in regular exercise, the benefits of which we’ll discuss in our next article!