The ongoing Covid-19 outbreak has halted life as we know it, freezing normal rituals of childhood and adolescence. Children around the world were stuck at home, playing video games, watching more television, and a lot of just sitting around. A brand new observational study recently published in the journal Obesity, revealed that lockdowns could be putting kids at higher risk for becoming overweight or obese.
The study analysed 41 children with obesity under lockdown in Verona, Italy, during March and April. Their activities had previously been monitored last year, prior to the pandemic. The children were already enrolled in a treatment program for obesity, regularly filling out behavioural questionnaires designed to tease out how they were faring related to known obesity risk factors.
The subjects, compared with last year, were eating an additional meal each day and sleeping an extra half hour daily. They were spending five more hours than usual in front of screens, and eating significantly more junk food and red meat. Professor of education at the University of Buffalo, and co-author of the study, Myles Faith, said, “Along came Covid-19 unexpectedly, and it really turned lifestyles upside down for many, many families.”
