Childhood obesity continues to grow at a phenomenal rate in the United States, and impact of behaviors causing obesity among children lead to advanced medical deficiencies later in life.  Today, childhood obesity “affects about 10 million children each year and has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. About 5 percent to 25 percent of children and teens are obese, and the average is increasing” (Berry, 2009, p. 30).  This is a startling statistic given the fact that less than ten years ago the obesity level was never as high as it is today.  Children have a number of factors that cause them to become obese during the various stages of human development, which include unhealthy eating behavior, reduced physical activity, and prevalent obesity within the home, most notably from one or both of the child’s parents.  These statistics demand that pediatricians understand these figures and the causes of obesity to better impact the lives of children and improve their overall quality of health.

To begin, it is important to understand the definition of physical activity and the recommended amount of physical activity for children within this specific age group.  The National Heart Foundation (2008) and their sponsored program Eat Smart, Play Smart define physical activity as “any form of bodily movement using large muscle groups.  It can be planned or spontaneous, and done individually, in groups or in teams” (p. 1).  The Department of Health and Ageing in Australia (2007) published a list of public health recommendations that specified the suggested amount of physical activity for adolescents should be “at least 60 minutes (and up to several hours) of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity every day” (par. 1).  Physical activity is extremely important to ensure the body remains in a healthy state and can function correctly.  The chemical benefits of physical activity allow people to burn calories and protein for energy, which in turn, helps keep the body weight under control.  Without the proper amount of recommended physical activity, the body does not use as much protein to function, thus causing the protein to build up as excess fat inside the body.  Fat can be beneficial for the body to ensure proper insulation to regulate body heat and body cooling, but too much fat causes obesity, reduces the passageways of the arteries and can cause substantial long-term defects inside the human body.

The specific amount of physical activity can be validated by another scholarly source.  Saris et al. (2003) performed a study to monitor and record the amount of physical activity levels within children of the prepubescent age range.  This study showed results that most children are not engaging in enough physical activity to remain healthy and prevent obesity if the time frame is less than 60 minutes per day, every day.  They also concluded that most children are actually performing around 25% below the amount that a child should be undertaking within this age group (p. 110).  Due to the laws of nature, it is important to understand the societal impact that causes children of different sex to partake in appropriate physical activity levels.

With this in mind, it is also important to notice that there is a large difference between behaviors of male to female children when it relates to physical activity.  In the same study performed by Saris et al. (2003), results shows that 72% of male children reported engaging in rigorous physical activities, while only 54% of female children reported engaging in such activities (p. 110).  This is a startling figure that shows that females are more likely to withhold from physical activity than that of males.  This can be attributed to a number of causes, such as culture’s definition of how ladies and little girls are supposed to behave lacking strong physical competitive behaviors.  It is interesting to note that while only 54% of female children reported engaging in vigorous physical activity, there are less than 1.6% of overweight or obese female children as compared to that of males (Parliament, 2009).  As female children become, they tend to become much more self-conscious about their bodies as they notice the many changes their bodies are going through.  The benefits of physical activity are very clear, yet still there are a number of various factors that cause children to not partake in proper amounts of physical activity.