29% of obese people have a sedentary lifestyle defined as ”daily dedication of more than 3 hours to screens, reading or homework”.
The prevalence of obesity in adults in Spain stands at 23.8%, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). On the contrary, in boys, it stands at 21% and in girls at 13%.
But, when is it said that there is obesity in adults? And in children? ”In adults, simplifying the definition, it is said that there is obesity when, when measuring the body mass index (BMI), a figure greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2 is found. Overweight is defined when the number is between 25 and 30”, explains Dr. Olga Pérez Rodríguez, an endocrinologist at the Pediatric Service of the San Carlos Clinical Hospital.
”In children, the definition, although it also depends on numerical BMI data, is different depending on the age and sex of the child and the reference standard of the growth charts with which it is compared. This allows us to know if they are obese (those who are in the 5% of the population with a higher BMI for their age and gender) or overweight (those who are among the 15% of the population with a higher BMI for their age and gender) ”, details the specialist.
CAUSES OF OBESITY
One of the main ones is sedentary leisure. In children, according to the Aladina study, 29% of obese people have a sedentary lifestyle defined as “devoting more than 3 hours a day to screens, reading or homework.” “Regarding the child and adolescent population, only 36.7% meet the WHO recommendation of a minimum of 60 minutes each day of moderate or vigorous physical activity,” says Dr. Olga Pérez Rodríguez.
29% of obese people have a sedentary lifestyle defined as ”daily dedication of more than 3 hours to screens, reading or homework”
The hours of sleep also seem to be an influential factor, since they are below the minimum limit indicated by the recommendations of the National Sleep Foundation (8 to 10 hours in the adolescent population).
“And finally, now and with greater emphasis in the time of the pandemic that we are going through, the fact that adolescents perceive a poor quality of life has an influence since there seems to be a certain correlation with those who declare feeling worried, sad or unhappy,” says the doctor.
DISEASES THAT ARISE AS A CONSEQUENCE OF OBESITY
-Short-term: increased cardiovascular risk factors; increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes, which is appearing at younger ages and can produce a multitude of complications in turn; Other medical consequences that it causes are musculoskeletal (pain due to excess weight supported by the skeletal system), gastrointestinal, respiratory, neurological or dermatological; sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, which affects neurocognitive function, or insomnia; and psychological and social (worse image of themselves and express feelings of inferiority and rejection that hinder their personal relationships).
-In the medium term: the already mentioned medical complications are aggravated but, above all, the psychological and social complications.
