Obesity is a serious disorder that must be prevented since prevention is better than cure. This is one of the most prevalent diseases in children in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. In prevention of this disorder, physical exercises should be enhanced in small children. In both countries, seriousness in controlling this devastating calamity should be enhanced to ensure that by 2015, the affected number is decreasing instead of rising.
Every individual should be in a position of trying to control the disease. It has also been revealed that the disorder is affecting people of other ages. Proper and optimistic strategies have to be laid down to curb the problem and to save the generations to come. The health sectors in these two countries should be on the front line in controlling this epidemic and educating people (Kopelman, 2005).
After the research was conducted, effective measures in controlling this disorder were found to be optimistic if followed to the latter. If applied it will control the problem and save future generations. One of the ways is to ensure that newborns are breastfed as per the guidelines of doctors. This will help in controlling occurrence of obesity in days to come. In addition to breastfeeding, parents and children should be educated on nutritive and healthy diets (Dietz & Stern, 1999).
With this, parents will be in a position to provide their children with healthy foods and not always giving them junk foods. Since one of the most important ways of controlling big bodies is through exercise, physical education should be enhanced and be put to practice. Another way that was found effective in solving this issue is the discouragement of sedentary life and limiting the time used in television viewing (Gardner, 2009).
From the findings it was clear that obesity is on the rise in both countries and that effective measures have to be taken. This came out as the data from organizations revealed that the population of children affected by obesity is increasing day after day. Like In the U.S., the data shows that 16.9% of the children aged between 2-19 years are victims of the circumstance.
The data also implied that the disease is mostly affecting children who are from high socioeconomic families. This is similar to what was found in Saudi Arabia although in the U.S. all children were affected. The data was also proved that in the U.S., children are not involved in physical exercises and they eat much junk foods and that is the reason the number of obese people in the U.S. is comparatively higher to that in Saudi Arabia.
It was also clear that obesity does not increase with age but those aged between 6-11 years are mostly affected than those aged between 12-19 years. It was clear that most of the children are lonely and that is the reason they could not manage physical exercises and they had to watch television for most of their time. Therefore, loneliness came out as one of the factors contributing greatly to obesity (Strauss, 2000).
To eradicate or control this disease the above measures should be followed to the latter. They can be used to save future generations and control other diseases such as pediatric hypertension that are associated with obesity. Children and parents should show their interest in controlling this disease and by 2015, the number of victims would have decreased. In other nations, specifically developing countries, citizens should put efforts in curbing the disease (Goodman & Whitaker, 2002).
References
Dietz, W.H. & Stern, L. (1999). The official complete home reference guide to your child’s nutrition. American Academy of Pediatrics, 25(3), 1-9.
Gardner, T. (2009). The 5 problems caused by childhood obesity. Web.
Goodman, E. & Whitaker, R. C. (2002). A prospective study of the role of depression in the development and persistence of adolescent obesity. American Psychological Association, 105(2), 1-15.
Kopelman, P. G. (2005). Clinical obesity in adults and children. New York, NY: Blackwell Publishing.
Strauss, R.S. (2000). Childhood obesity and self-esteem. American Psychological Association Pediatrics, 105 (1), 15.