By Dr. Nicola Manca
The improved socio-economic conditions, poor eating habits and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle have favored the formation of some physical alterations, which are the consequence of an imbalance between muscular, skeletal and ponderal development. These alterations have caused a significant increase in childhood obesity, which in some countries like ours is reaching peaks of 20% of the healthy youth population.
In most cases, the triggering factor is the scarce or even non-existent physical activity, due to a poor family, school or environmental organization, in this sense.
Physical activity is in fact a fundamental component of man, especially in the age of development.
The growth of the child, like that of all living beings, is closely dependent on the functional demands that come from the environment in which it lives. Each function has developed as a result of specific requests from the outside world and each organ has taken on its definitive characteristics as a result of functional requirements.
The muscular and skeletal systems develop harmoniously in the body and in the individual organs, especially in individuals who continuously stimulate them and exercise them appropriately.
The "potential of obesity"
We can consider obesity as a real pathology, characterized by an excess of adipose tissue, due both to an increase in volume, and to the number of adipocytes (the cells that make up the adipose tissue).
It is essential to combat obesity from an early age, because adolescence is the critical period in which an individual's "obesity potential" is established, given the number of adipocytes.
In fact, during the adolescent phase, the number of fat cells increases significantly, only to remain roughly unchanged for the rest of life . It is therefore important to prevent an excessive increase in adipose tissue and in the number of adipocytes.
In a normal-weight subject the number of fat cells is around 25-30 billion, in obese subjects this value increases on average between 40 and 100 billion.
In the transition from adolescence to adulthood, the size of the adipocytes is almost exclusively variable: they increase when you get fat and decrease with weight loss; in obese subjects the volume of adipocytes is approximately double compared to normal weight subjects.
Among the serious consequences of obesity that can affect children and young people early, the most frequent are represented by problems with the respiratory system ( sleep apnea, fatigue ); to the osteoarticular one ( varus-valgus lower limbs, reduced joint mobility, flat feet ); to the digestive and cardio-circulatory systems ( inability to respond adequately to an effort, even of slight intensity and limited in time, less ventilatory efficiency ) .
Moreover, in the developmental age, the overweight of the body gives rise to other unpleasant psychological consequences. The obese child can often feel uncomfortable and ashamed, even going so far as to exclude himself from social life and normal recreational and motor activities. Often they are children who tend to lock themselves up at home and over-feed themselves, establishing a dangerous vicious circle (overweight, motor inactivity, exclusion from group life, overeating).
The lack of motor activity is very often both cause and consequence of obesity.
Conclusions
It is important to remember that an obese child will in most cases be an obese adult, either due to exclusion from normal motor activities, or due to the excessive increase in fat cells during the age of development.
The best method to have a healthy adult is therefore to prevent overweight and the psychophysical pathologies related to it. To obtain this result it is necessary to associate correct eating habits with adequate motor activity, which takes into account the psychophysical difficulties connected to the age of development and aggravated by obesity.
Therefore, the figure of a professional in the field of psychomotor education is fundamental, which helps families to educate or re-educate the child to a correct lifestyle, which accompanies him to adulthood and leads him to be a healthy adult.
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