The Rise of Childhood Obesity

Presenter: Jared Sawyer, Kinesiology, Global Public Health Scholars

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For my practicum, I volunteered at the Fairland Sports and Aquatics Center after school program and was able to work with the kids after they finished school doing activities such as swimming, tennis, gymnastics, art, and other learning activities. I helped the teachers there by coordinating lessons, activities and events that helped get the kids more active physically and mentally. I learned that physical activity is very important for children feeling better because having them cooped up inside all day makes them less engaged when it is time to learn and their mental health is worse. I also learned that kids need at least 60 minutes a day of activity and when they reach that they are more tolerable to instruction and have less outbursts during the day. The connection to public health is that childhood obesity is caused due to a lack of movement and is rising to the use of more internet and screens that take up activity time. Children who are obese tend to stay obese later in life as well and this causes many preventable diseases such as type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol that could lead to death. Obesity is one of the more treatable conditions that can be changed with a change in lifestyle and it starts with moving more so we can have more active people that live long, healthy lives.