The extra kilos on holidays also affect children

The Christmas holidays are, for adults, synonymous with a couple of kilos more with so much food. But now it is also known that children tend to be overweight at leisure.

This has been determined by a recent study published in the journal Obesity and where parents are warned that children are more likely to get fat during the holidays. Free time dedicated to sedentary lifestyle and a lack of control of the lunch schedule seem to be the main causes of this matter.

More obesity at the beginning of the course

To analyze how vacations influenced the weight of childrenThese researchers reviewed the weight and height of several students from different schools in Texas to get back the same records at the end of the school year. This process was repeated for three years to check if a pattern was repeated regarding children with overweight problems and if they appeared at any given time.


Effectively the study revealed that it was at the beginning of the course, that is, after the summer holidays when more children were overweight. Specifically at this time of the year, 23% of the students in these schools had a body mass index higher than that recommended for their height.

In addition, the percentage of obese children was 9%. However, during the school year the data remained stable. At the end of the course and starting the new school year, the data had increased at a rate of three percentage points. Some data that showed that the holidays were the periods in which children have more risk of gaining weight and have serious problems related to them.


Less strict environments

The authors point out that this trend is directly related to the less strict environments in which children live during the holiday period. While during the school year the students adapt to a schedule and their meals are distributed throughout the day in a good way, when the resting stage arrives, this rhythm does not continue to alter the child's metabolism.

While during the course the child eats certain hours, During the holidays, you may pick up different products such as chips, high-fat snacks or trinkets between meals. Something that makes coma more than while going to classes. In addition, at school there is a minimum of physical exercise related to subjects such as physical education.

On the other hand during the holiday period, children are more likely to practice a more sedentary lifestyle in which physical activity is hardly present. The solution? Plan outings where the movement is present: walks in the park, by bicycle. Staying at home is the least necessary option practiced for the little ones while they do not go to school.


Damián Montero

Video: Why Children of Obese Fathers Are More Obese?


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