Comprehensive Analysis of Obesity: Causes, Prevention, and Cognition

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of obesity, exploring its causes, prevention strategies, and cognitive elements. It identifies genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors contributing to obesity, such as inactive lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits, and specific genetic disorders. The essay emphasizes the importance of modifying behaviors through nutritious diets and increased physical exercise, suggesting interventions like the KOALA program to improve physical abilities and self-efficacy in overweight children. It also highlights the role of positive reinforcement from family and teachers in encouraging healthy habits and addressing psychological factors associated with obesity. The essay concludes by advocating for further research into effective methods for promoting healthy living and improving the physical and mental well-being of individuals at risk of or affected by obesity; Desklib provides similar essays and study resources for students.

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Obesity is a condition that causes one to have excess fat in the body. In some cases, obesity is
caused by genetics and environmental elements which makes controlling dieting very difficult.
It's characterized by a Body Mass Index of more than 30. BMI is a parameter that is used when
measuring obesity. Obesity makes people vulnerable to dangerous diseases such as stroke, heart
disease, high cholesterol, heart diseases, and some types of cancers, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea
and gallbladder disease.
Genetics, behavior, and environment cause obesity:
Environment- The environment structures a person's lifestyle and routines. There are
environmental factors that affect an individual's negatively and positively (Mauvais,2015). Most
people in this era have adopted an inactive lifestyle; they have abandoned jogging,(Skinner et
al.,2016) walking and all other forms of exercise. They drive cars and use lifts instead of stairs;
technology has replaced physical activity.
Behavior- adopting unhealthy behaviors leads to obesity like poor eating habits. The food that
people eat is filled with unhealthy fats( Mozaffarian,2016). Eating junk food and not exercising
is hazardous to one's health. The food that people eat today have few nutrients required for a
healthy diet due to the increase in calories, and yet they are not engaging in physical
activity(Ogden et al.,2016). Exercise is essential in rectifying people's behavior. Televisions,
computer games and other forms of technology encourage obesity since people sit for long hours
playing computer games and watching Television without exercise.
Genes-Scientists have proven that genes contribute to obesity. Specific disorders that are
developed by genes led to obesity.

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For obesity to be avoided there is need to modify one's behavior. By substituting junky feeds and
other feeds fill with too many calories, with nutritious feeds like vegetables(Ng et al., 2014).
Increasing physical exercise-jogging, walking, using stairs and doing house chores. Learn to
nourish the body properly. Engaging in extracurricular activities like the participant in the local
competition in your area and setting achievable on weight management.
Deciding to change a habit or a lifestyle is very challenging. People trying to change should get
support from family members and friends (Dettori et al., 2009). It is important because it impacts
positively on someone's health. Starting physical exercise programs is also important because
most people live a sedentary lifestyle (Flattum et al.,2015).The programs can be commercial or
non-clinical, they could be privately owned, or physician supervised weight loss program,
provides medical treatment in a clinic set up run by professional health officers such as a doctor,
a nurse, and a dietitian. The programs offer education on nutrition, exercise, and how to modify
unwanted behaviors. The KOALA program is an example a program that provides training on
weight loss.
The KOALA program ran research to investigate the physical appearance and physical ability of
over-weight and non-overweight kids. Its primary purpose was to conclude in a randomly
organized attempt the impact of the three Ps, Positive parenting program, Eat Well Be Active
Scouts Camp Program on BMI in overweight children and family.
Cognitive elements
The study showed there was a need for behavioral change ( behavioral capability this is defined
as one's ability to do a task via essential skills and knowledge). To perform a duty successfully,
one has to understand what is required of him and how the work is done. Through this, they
observed children who were overweight scored lowly on all strength abilities, for example,

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catching, throwing and target shooting in ball measuring skills and showed reduced static and
dynamic stability, unlike non-weight children. They observed that overweight children had
weakened balance when running, jumping, catching and dribbling. A stable posture determines
how children can do their tasks like walking in the classroom and provides a platform which is
stable for other skills that include limbs coordination. When children have balance problems,
they may lack essential stability necessary to act efficiently in different setups like playgrounds,
classrooms and recreation halls. Parents and teachers should encourage there children and
students to eat healthily and engage in physical activity.
They also concluded that overweight lacked self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the level of confidence
a person has that will enable him/her to perform a behavior successfully (Heiss et al., 2016). The
overweight children performed dismally in agility test, running, sideways movements and
hopping. This is due to their inactive lifestyles; they have developmental coordination disorder- a
condition that impairs motor performance capability, they participate in few physical activities
(games and sports), hence low self-efficacy. To improve efficacy, they needed to engage in
random controlled trials that will increase physical exercise participation, eating healthy and
offering guidance to parents on how to parent obese children.
Reinforcing the kids is also essential in preventing further cases of obesity, reinforcement is the
endogenous and exogenous response to the behavior of a person. It determines whether a person
will continue or discontinue the practice. The reinforcements can be positive and negative or can
be initiated by the environment or a person. The research showed that overweight children had
low self-concept perceptions concerning their physical abilities, unlike their counterparts who
were not obese. They had little understanding of flexibility, coordination, and endurance. They
also had poor mental health and thus showed the need to design program that will address factors

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of psychology and mental health to eradicate long-term effects that can lead to overweight.
People surrounding these children should show the children the importance of abandoning a
sedentary lifestyle and always giving them positive remarks on their performance.
The overweight children had the low physical appearance, unlike their non-overweight
counterparts. In this research, the physical attraction of various body features such as body
shape, the strength of the muscle, hair, nose, and eyes were judged. Also, the physical
appearance and physical ability relationship were explored; the resulting in no ties that suggested
environmental and personal factors would have influenced self-judgment in those areas.
After observing the behavioral activities of the overweight children, they concluded that they
required further research to decide whether the product or process assessment of Fundamental
Movement Skills is suitable for informing overweight, obese kids about healthy living. The FMS
has excellent benefits since it enables training on skills regarded as ambiguous by teachers or
field staffs. Having positive self-concept regarding physical ability encourages a child to
participate in sports and other hobbies that will require him to use physical strength. The training
is offered by experts who have coaching and exercise qualifications. Fundamental Movement
Skills took place in a clinic and was conducted by licensed health professionals who identified
the motor deficit in children and adolescent.
.

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