By Ji Jing

Last year， Beijing resident Xiaoming was diagnosed with high blood pressure and blood sugar. These have come to be considered as part and parcel of professional life in todays high-pressure world but the trouble was， Xiaoming was a 12-year-old in junior high school.

Already overweight， he gained more weight during the epidemic， contributing to his health woes. A large part of it was attributed to schools remaining closed last year due to the epidemic and students attending online classes from home. Xiaoming seldom played any outdoor sports and the burgeoning weight finally made his parents worry. He was taken to a doctor， who said the boy needed to change his sedentary lifestyle. Then his father made an exercise plan for him， which included running outdoors， and father and son exercising together. The new regimen started last June and Xiaoming lost an impressive 10 kg. When he went back to school in autumn， his classmates could hardly recognize him.

A growing problem

Overweight and obesity have become an increasingly serious issue among youngsters in China. According to a report on nutrition and the chronic diseases of the Chinese released by the National Health Commission （NHC） in December， 19 percent youngsters between 6 and 17 were overweight； for those even younger， the figure was 10.4 percent.

According to Yao Hui， a doctor at the endocrinology department of the Wuhan Childrens Hospital in Hubei Province， central China， there were hardly any overweight children decades ago. But now the phenomenon has become increasingly common.

Yao told Wuhan Evening News in the past parents came to consult him on how to make their children eat more because they considered slender children to be weak. Now they come to ask how their children can lose weight. Every year， he examines several hundred overweight children.

“Children who dont have enough exercise are more likely to be overweight because they burn up too little calorie，” Ma Jun， head of the children and adolescent health research institute of the School of Public Health at Peking University， told Peoples Daily. He added that many children spend a lot of time watching TV and using electronic products such as laptops and smartphones without any exercise， which leads to obesity.

Researchers worldwide agree that with every hour spent watching TV， children run a greater risk of obesity as well as diabetes. Gao Shan， an endocrinologist at the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital， told Peoples Daily that obese children and adolescents are more susceptible to high blood pressure， high blood sugar and hyperlipidemia—an abnormally high concentration of lipids or fats in the blood.

In October 2020， six ministries including the NHC and the Ministry of Education released a detailed plan for prevention and control of obesity among children and adolescents with a directive for school canteens. It said the canteens should increase the proportion of fruits， vegetables and coarse grains in meals and include the correct amount of fish， eggs， meat and milk. Food that is high in sugar， fat and salt should be axed.

Schools should also give more importance to physical education and ensure that children in kindergartens have at least two hours of outdoor sports every day during fine weather. Primary and middle school students should have at least one hour of outdoor sports at school.

Liu Meichen， a student of the Baijiazhuang Primary School in Beijing， told Beijing Review her school has asked students to record their weight， height and body mass index every week during the winter vacation， which will last till March 1. It has also issued a list of the sports students are required to do every day， including running and skipping. BR