IELTS Essay # 6 - The percentage of overweight children in western society has increased by almost 20% in the last ten years. Discuss the causes and effects of this disturbing trend.

Essay # 6

The percentage of overweight children in western society has increased by almost 20% in the last ten years.
Discuss the causes and effects of this disturbing trend.

Childhood obesity is increasingly becoming a cause of concern in the western society. The fact that it has increased by almost 20% in the last decade depicts how ignorant we are regarding this issue. Several factors contribute to this problem, unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle to name a few. Apart from the physical effects, obesity in a child also affects him mentally and socially.

Children today lead a very different lifestyle than ever before. They use car and bus ride, or their own two wheelers, instead of walking or cycling to and from the school. Their usual after school routine is watching TV, playing video games or surfing the internet, instead of playing outdoors. Attending coaching after school also makes them tired for any physical exercise afterwards, and eventually this sort of lifestyle makes them lazy.

To top that, in most households nowadays, both the parents work. Consequently, there’s no monitoring the children’s food habits or seeing whether they are getting their daily exercises. Therefore, children freely eat junk-food, depleting their hunger for a nutritious meal, resulting in them often skipping meals.

The reasons mentioned above definitely add up to many health issues in children like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, asthma, gastric disorders, bad posture and more. But there are also social and emotional complications. Obese children are more susceptible to low self-esteem and bullying, behaviour and learning problems, and in some cases, even depression.

To conclude, I’d like to say that childhood obesity is as big a problem as we make it. Taking proper care and giving proper attention to children and their habits can help curb this problem. Starting with small but permanent changes in our diets and physical activities can impose the importance of a healthier lifestyle on children early on.

(299 words)