Nutrition

Statement on nutrition
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Abstract
Nutrition is a vital part of development for any child. If efforts are not made to ensure this crucial foundation, then the health of the child is affected in a myriad of ways including their cognitive, social emotional and even physical growth. Deliberate efforts must therefore be put into place to ensure healthy lifestyles for children right from their early ages so as to cultivate a healthy culture in them. In the recent times there has been a negative inclination in the inculcation of healthy lifestyles in children. This paper analyses several aspects which appear to negatively affect the health of the children. These include television viewing, lack of exercise, sleep hygiene and self regulation.
Television viewing and exposure to food advertisement
Television viewing by children can be educative and entertaining as well. However, it has got its negative side particularly when it comes to health and nutrition. Excessive television result to too much idling whereby the body is not active and therefore, this poses great risks to the health of the children. This emanates from the view that the body is supposed to be active for at least some good part of the day so that blood circulation can be kept on check. Again children are supposed to do physical exercises in order to necessitate their psychomotor development.
Of a greater risk to the young children is the effect of food advertisement on television. Research has shown that there is a great tendency of televisions to advertise foods that are of dense calories and less nutritious. As a tradition of any television advert; these foods a packaged in a way that is very attractive. Thus the young children, unaware of the health impact of such foods start craving for them. They will request their parents and guardians to prepare such foods for them. Their caretakers may be forced to give in to the young children’s demands because they will make the requests so fervently from the force of the advertisements that they observed from television. The children end up consuming food that is less nutritious and full of calories hence poor development. Such can also lead to exposure to health and nutrition diseases such as obesity and hypertension. Since it would be unwise to completely lock the young children out of television viewing, it would be crucial to limit their watching and ensure that they are presented with channels with better articles suitable for children rather than exaggerated food advertisements.
Lack of exercise
Exercise is a vital element for healthy growth of any child. Research has shown that, this element has been neglected in many families. Children have been negated to idle sitting throughout the day. At their homes, they sit through out watching television and laying games in the internet. This exposes them to nutrition diseases such as obesity and hypertension.
Kotte, de Groot, Winkler et al (2014) assert that; exercise is vital for children below the age of six years because it helps them to achieve proper coordination of their muscles hence they achieve a positive physical growth. Exercise is also crucial because, if the children play in groups, t...