Obesity and TV

Introduction

In the past two decade, technological advancements have been the order of the day. Technology has brought about decrease among individuals on energy expenditure in terms of engaging oneself in activities that gets rids of these excessive energy inside the body. This has led to increasing rates of obesity among the population and other chronic diseases associated with it. The sedentary time that is spent on viewing TV can determine the extent of risk of obesity among the growing populations.

Overweight during early childhood is a risk factor for obesity at the adulthood age. TV viewing at this age is associated with myriad of activities which includes; increased consumption of sweets, drinking sugary drinks and eating more snacks that contains plenty of sugars. This habits leads to accumulation of more sugars in the blood. Lack of physical activity i.e. gym sessions or interacting oneself in rigorous physical activities leads to these sugars being stored under the skin. Continued hats of watching the TV for long periods of time leads to increase in weights among the individuals, which in turns cause obesity among the victims. Obesity exposes an individual to diabetes, thus, this might lead to diverse effects on the body functioning of the body.

Another contingent factor that is associated with TV viewing is the surrounding environment in homes. A homestead with plenty of Obesity and TV Obesity and TVs across all the rooms including the bedroom; influence the individuals to spend more of their time in watching TV. This has great negative impact on the growing population especially young children. They spend most of their time in viewing the TV and fail to involve themselves in physical activities that stimulate normal functioning of their bodies. This exposes greater risks to such young children, sine prolonged participation in such an activity leads to obesity. Therefore, parents should consider elevating TVs on the living rooms alone and create an exercise free environment where these young children can involve themselves in physical activity. This will in turn reduce the risk chances of contracting obesity.

The duration of sleeping is another risk factor that can be associated to TV viewing and obesity. Lack of enough sleep cause the body system to behave and at differently depending on the age of an individual. Young children need to have more time in sleeping so as to stimulate quality growth. Less time spent on sleeping leads to abnormal growth behaviors. One of these abnormalities is obesity. The causative agent for lack of enough sleep is TV viewing; this is because of the more time that an individual spends on watching a program of their choice. This will impact negatively on their growth patterns, thus they are exposed to obesity.

In conclusion, TV viewing exposes an individual to risk of attracting obesity; this in turn will expose such individuals to greater risks of contracting other contagious disease associated to obesity. The activities that an individual involves himself when viewing a program of his choice determine the risk chances of being obese positive. Activities that do not stimulate breakdown of excess sugars among individuals while watching the TV will expose such individuals to being obese. Therefore, parents need to draw a clear time plan that allows their kids to engage themselves in watching the TV and in participating in physical activities. These will balance off the risk chances of being obese.

References;

Ghavamzadeh, S., Reza Khalkhali, H., & Alizadeh, M. (2013). TV Viewing, Independent of Physical Activity and Obesogenic Foods, Increases Overweight and Obesity in Adolescents. Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition, 31(3), 334-342.

Rey-López, J. P., Ruiz, J. R., Vicente-Rodríguez, G. G., Gracia-Marco, L. L., Manios, Y. Y., Sjöström, M. M., & Moreno, L. A. (2012). Physical Activity does not Attenuate the Obesity Risk of TV Viewing in Youth. Pediatric Obesity, 7(3), 240-250.

Tucker, L., & Tucker, J. (2011). Television Viewing and Obesity in 300 Women: Evaluation of the Pathways of Energy Intake and Physical Activity. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 19(10), 1950-1956.