The Causes of Teenage Obesity Rates Increasing

Is it surprising that teenage obesity rates have increased? Some causes of rising obesity rates can be because of lack of physical activities like playing sports, not going to the gym, or not having recess and not having outside playing time; other reasons that youth cannot help because they are in their genes! However, many children do not get the proper nourishment; they just eat unhealthily which maybe avoidable based on their family’s income. “Children become overweight and obese for a variety of reasons. The most common causes are genetic factors, lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns, or a combination of these factors. Only in rare cases is being overweight caused by a medical condition such as a hormonal problem” (author unknown).

Obesity is commonly is defined as a disorder and can be caused by simple items or not so simple, more complex items. The effect of teen obesity is lack of physical activities, genetic makeup, and unhealthy eating habits. Many students depend on school to be the source of their physical fitness now. “… there are supporting evidence that excessive sugar intake by soft drink, increased portion size, and steady decline in physical activity have been playing major roles in the rising rates of obesity all around the world (Krushnapriya Sahoo, Bishnupriya Sahoo, Ashok Kumar Choudhury, Nighat Yasin Sofi, Raman Kumar, and Ajeet Singh Bhadoria)

Not getting graded on daily exercise and 30 minutes to an hour of physical fitness may have resulted in generations not valuing physical fitness and as a result many teenagers are phased with the fact of being overweight for their age and height. Because of so much standardized test students do not get physical fitness opportunities at school. But, this is not the only way you can have the disorder, obesity can also be cause by genetics. Now everyone knows those New Year resolutions like: “I am going to do better with myself,” or “I am going to go to the gym and get a membership to avoid becoming overweight”. But sometimes it is just simple not that easy. Some peoples cause of obesity is caused by their genetics. Studies have shown that genes can contribute to weight gain and body fat distribution other known as obesity. Just because some people may have inherited the obese gene does not mean it is common. Most people who are obese are not because of genetic traits, but instead, because of lack of nutrients. “… Dietary factors have been studied extensively for its possible contributions to the rising rates of obesity.

Lack of nutrients really changes how your body is supposed to function. Without proper nutrients your body will not run correctly causing certain cells to not do their job an ultimately ends up with the body not breaking up food fast enough causing more body mass. Sometimes, people do not care what they eat until they see the results. For example, a running coach may say to his team on the track, “Whatever you put in your body will enable what you do with your body,” but this is the same man that also said, “Hit the curves with a long stride.” The runner may not take this advice seriously until she begins throwing up and becoming dizzy, because all she ate was seven fries all day before practice. “… Increases in the consumption of junk food and increased portion size of fast food have been linkedto … More research is needed to help understand the underlying causes of the disparities … among lower SES youth) will not only aid in the fight against the youth obesity epidemic..”

Some young people may not even have had this; their providers my not be able to afford to give them healthy meals every day which causes their child to eat unhealthy food allowing teenagers to develop a bad eating disorder, causing the teenage obesity rates to rise. The lack of physical activities, having to deal with genetics and unhealthy eating habits can all be a factor with rising obesity rates. Solutions to these causes would be easy and simple fixes to decrease obesity rates in schools. If schools spent as much effort on nutrition and exercise for their students as they do for standardized testing, the teenage obesity rate may decrease.