by Harry Goldhagen
First published September 11, 2002 on Medscape Pediatrics
When I was a child, I walked to school almost every day. I played stickball, rode my bicycle, threw frisbees, and otherwise ran around a lot. I competed for those neat patches from the President’s Council by doing pull-ups and sit-ups. And I wasn’t an especially athletic child — I still managed to get in a significant amount of TV time — but what I enjoyed most was being out and moving.
But it seems that times have changed, and children are less active nowadays. One hears about the obesity epidemic among children and adolescents from all sides, and this is borne out by surveillance reports. For instance, results from the 1999 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) indicate that 13% to 14% of children and adolescents are overweight as determined by body mass index (BMI) measures.[1] This is up from 11% in 1988-1994 and 4% to 5% in the 1960s.
And despite recent claims to the contrary, the increase in BMI is not primarily due to increased muscularity among the young.
Obesity and the decrease in physical activity among the young is a significant target of the CDC’s Healthy People 2010 goals.[2] One approach they recommend to increase physical activity is to incorporate it into everyday life, such as walking or biking to and from school. But even this activity is on the decline. In a recent article published in MMWR,[3] Dellinger and Stauton found that fewer than 1 in 7 trips is made by walking and biking. The barriers included long distances to school and dangerous traffic, but adverse weather and crime were also factors.
This obesity epidemic is not without costs. Wang and Dietz[4] from the CDC examined hospital discharge data from 1977-1999 and found that obesity-related disorders increased dramatically during this time period: diabetes nearly doubled, gallbladder diseases tripled, sleep apnea increased 5-fold, and costs increased more than 3-fold.
How can we get our kids moving again? Parents have an important role to play in increasing physical activity among their children. Health People 2010 exhorts “parents, educators, and healthcare providers to become positive role models and to be involved actively in the promotion of physical activity and fitness in children and adolescents.” This involvement is especially during the earliest years, when such patterns are set. One of the best ways to do this is for the parents to participate in the activities with their children. Whether it’s running, tennis, martial arts, or hiking, exercising as a family can benefit everyone — including the generally more inactive adults.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1999. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overwght99.htm. Accessed September 5, 2002.
- Healthy People 2010. Available at: https://www.health.gov/healthypeople/document/HTML/Volume2/22Physical.htm#_Toc490380803. Accessed September 5, 2002.
- Barriers to children walking and biking to school – US, 1999. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2002;51:701-704.
- Wang G, Dietz WH. Economic burden of obesity in youths aged 6 to 17 years: 1979-1999. Pediatrics. 2002;109:E81-1. Abstract. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11986487&dopt=Abstract
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