Risk and protective factors for eating, weight, and body image problems
Lack of exercise: How does lack of exercise contribute to eating, weight and body image problems?
Underactivity and lack of exercise can lead to problems with body image, overweight and health:
- Current trends indicate there is a decline in physical activity that is especially steep for middle school girls.
- From 8 to 18, there is a 83% decrease in physical activity with larger decreases in African-American girls (Kimm et al., 2002)
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Latina and African-American girls cite co-ed physical education classes as challenging (Neumark-Sztainer, 2005): they reported
-decreased attention from teachers versus boys
-concerns about appearance while exercising (sweating, shape/size, makeup)
-being excluded from activities by boys
-feeling uncomfortable doing some activities around boys
-frustrated by inadequate opportunities to participate - Use of electronic media and underactivity can lead to binge eating and overweight problems: too much sedentary activity leads to more energy taken in than expended.
- Computers, television and cell phones in the bedroom with children and teens can contribute to excessive sedentary activity as well as chaotic sleep patterns.
- Lack of enjoyment of physical activity and too much or too little physical activity can decrease motivation and lead to weight-related problems.
