McCallion
Quest

Overweight Children

By:  Sarah Di Clemente 

Technology has been beneficial in the past few years as well as today. It helps us do everything from finding information faster to running machines and cars. But with everything good…is there a down side? Is technology really helping or hurting our children?

These days there are more and more overweight children. In fact, there are now 40% more kids overweight than there was 30 years ago. Thanks to technology and our inactivity, 40% of Canadian children already have at least one risk factor for heart disease. The reason? Experts today claim that it's the latest technology such as video games and computers that are invading a child's mind and that are leaving them no time to stay active and healthy. Technology today is producing children that are lazy, overweight and unhealthy.

The main reason why children are getting so overweight today is because they're not active enough. According to Reader's Digest magazine, only 36% of Canadians under 19 are active enough to maintain satisfactory cardiovascular health. That could be very dangerous for any child and something must be done. Sue Crawford, a lecturer in kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in B.C. says, "Regular exercise keeps weight under control, lowers blood pressure and wards off heart disease, diabetes, and depression."

To maintain a satisfactory to above level physical health, all the children have to do is go outside and get at least an hour of activity a day. Doing that everyday would make them become healthier and would enable them to live a longer life.

Enhancements in television shows and video games are another reason Canadian children are obese. According to the heart and stroke foundation, the average Canadian child spends about 17 hours a week watching T.V. which is 2.4 hours a day. All that time glued to the television set takes away much of the time a child could be doing an activity that could keep them healthy. When you add all of the television time, to the time they spend at school and on the computer, it's no wonder they don't get enough exercise!

Watching too much T.V also causes another problem that contributes to poor health. In front of the tube, children tend to snack on more fast foods like chips, cookies, and pop. If they are watching T.V. for 17 hours a week, consider the amount of opportunities for trips to the fridge.

Children who eat a lot of chips, cookies, and unhealthy snacks develop more risks of heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol. A study done by the American Medical Association in 1999, of teenagers and young adults who died suddenly, showed that 60% of these teenagers had fatty streaks in their coronary artery (artery that pumps blood to the heart). The study concluded that children have a greater chance of getting health problems at an early age from a high fat diet.

Technology has definitely benefited society in many ways, but we must be aware of the damage it is causing. It is clear that technology has affected our children negatively. Overloaded with electronic gadgets, our kids are suffering from a lack of activity and they are more susceptible to a high fat diet that can make them overweight and unhealthy.

But the bright side is the situation is fixable. There are things that can be done to prevent this. Signing children up for sports teams, walking to school, and doing physical activities with family and friends can make a big difference. Sitting down and creating an appropriate and balanced schedule of when to play outdoors and when to work on the computer or to watch T.V. will help the child to make effective life long choices that will benefit overall health. If a child already has existing weight problems, visiting a nutritionist to design a special diet for the child will alleviate the situation.