Would obesity education solve all the problems?
Developing common sense means thinking. It is also to use one’s intelligence to give meaning to one’s life, that of one’s children, one’s family… In a new study published in theInternational Journal of Obesity(1), researchers explain that a thoughtful routine, in terms of schedules, reduces the risk of obesity in pre-adolescence and therefore in adulthood. One wonders if the newspaper wishes to highlight the fact that, since a certain ritual is good for the balance of the child, another way of approaching behavioral problems exists and that common sense, education, anticipation and intelligence would all be opendoorsto efficient and sustainable weight loss.
Routine: an ally against overweight
According to the above-mentioned article, children, whose time of falling asleep is regular and who moreover go to bed rather early, fall asleep more easily, have fewer sudden awakenings in the middle of the nightand are more balanced in their daily lives. Thus, behavioral problems could occur by lack of sleep or absence of ritual and therefore by lack of precise and adapted instructions such as those whose parents, if they fulfill their role correctly, must water their children, without falling into excessive moralization. It is education in general that is being debated here.
“Ritualizing” would therefore be beneficial
Putting young children to sleep by telling them stories, having lunch and dinner at regular times, managing time spent in front of the computer, smartphones or television, spending special moments with them, etc. are healthy rituals that arebeneficial to establish. Not only because the American scientists of the “State University College” advise it in their study published in the pages of the “International Journal of Obesity” for the fight against overweight, but also because as a citizen, have become well aware that nothing beats education to regain a balance of life, Basic hygienist rules and therefore a perfect longevity in terms of health.
A study conducted on British children
With 3-year-old children, the researchers noticed that, if British children took and followed good daily habits, they were subsequently able to control and regulate their emotions more. Thus, they will become adults who will be less concerned about being overweight throughout their lives. Conversely, “the risk of obesity becomes greater in children who have inconsistent hours of falling asleep,” argues Professor Anderson of Ohio. Through this study(1) it is easy to notice that education is indeed the basic rule of all evolution.
Overweight and obesity are not just the result of the coincidence of the last twenty years. This observation posed, it must be remembered here that the name “diseases of civilization” is used to qualify pathologies which, in the 80s, without being orphans, were nevertheless occasional. They are almost becoming commonplace, more than thirty years later and all over the world.
Thus, learning to read nutritional labels, knowing what fats, carbohydrates, proteins are, differentiating between a meal and a snack, understanding what kilocalories, slow sugars or fast sugars, friendly fats and others etc. are all notions with which the young child must become familiar, become customary to in turn transmit these “fundamentals”. Eating, sleeping and reproducing remain primary needs, but it is up to us to make them evolve so that they give a certain dignity to man.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.