Young must fight obesity

THE prevalence of youth obesity is increasing.  I myself admit that I am 10 kilos overweight. Though I am, and always have been, very ashamed of it, I realise that it is high time that I shed those extra pounds myself and start worrying about my health.

However, what worries me even more is the number of young people that are much more overweight.

It appears that the authorities are ignoring the problem and are choosing to leave it up to parents to take appropriate measures to tackle them.

Yet what is mind-boggling is the reason why many youngsters in the kingdom are so overweight.

Well, the way I see it, children in Bahrain spend more of their time in front of the television munching on chips that are full of fat when they should be exercising outdoors burning off those extra pounds.

However, I realise that the number of activities a young one can do in Bahrain is very small and limited. Therefore, one can’t blame a person if he wishes to be active or he cannot find an outlet to let off steam.

There are many risks associated with obesity.

Firstly, studies show that youngsters who suffer from obesity are likely to also suffer from being tired and therefore their education will be affected.

Furthermore, statistics conducted in the United States showed that people with obesity tend to have a greater mortality rate than that of a normal weight person. If death doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will!

Therefore one must urge the government and schools across the kingdom to take necessary measures such as:

l Better education about proper nutrition and health advice should be a top priority taken on board by the schools.

l Physical education facilities must be made available for all.

l Parents and families must also cooperate with the schools to achieve goals in helping to reduce the number of overweight children.