My Personal Interest Blog

One of my personal interest within public health is centered around one of the nation's biggest problem, literally. Obesity is a problem that America has dealt with for a while, but over the past few years the obesity rate has dramatically increased in adults but even worse within kids. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than tripled over the past 30 years! I became interested in this problem after working at a local summer camp for more than 5 years where I had the chance to watch my students grow up. At the camp we did both education and recreation to try to keep the children active. I began to notice how the times have changed since I was younger. Back in the day we as children loved to play games, like tags or have relay races and many other things, but the new generation is more interested in watching tv, playing on their cell phones, iPods, iPads,along with video and computer games. This problem truly hit home when two of my students from the camp parents came to me because they had to inform me that they had developed type 2 diabetes. After hearing that I had a talk with the staff and directors of the camp and we all collaborated and agreed to have more physical activities to keep the children active. Knowing the damage and harm that can result from being obese, I want to try to help reduce while preventing the prevalence of childhood obesity.