Health And Fitness vs Young Singaporeans

The very first cause would be that most Singaporeans especially the youths lack sufficient time to exercise regularly to keep fit and be active especially during such a fast-paced and hectic lifestyle.Youths tend to live a sedentary lifestyle(with little or no physical activity) which increases the risk of getting obese.As a prolonged period of physical inactivity can reduce metabolism and impair the body's ability to break down fats stored in the body.This will lead to a gradual but large increase in the weight of these youths and ultimately causing them to be overweight and thus obese.

Youths particularly aged 15-18 are preoccupied with and spend majority of their time on homework or school assignments,supplementary classes or tuitions for various subjects that they have opted for and through dedicating their time towards Co-Curricular Activities(CCA) and thus there are significant number of youths' typical school day consists of lessons,CCA-the IT Club in (my) case- then tuition and homeworkand on weekends,(I) play computer games and watch my favourite TV Shows,and movies on (her) laptops.

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This is also evident from the study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) where it is mentioned that The country's(Singapore) 15 year olds said that they devoted 9.4 hours to homework a week.To add on to the first cause analysis, furthermore some youths also have limited motivation(laziness) to exercise and maintain a healthy diet( less fat, salt and sugar).People who do not exercise frequently tend to fall into 2 categories.

The first group consists of people not motivated to exercise as they feel that exercising is boring and isn't at their top of their priorities.Another group starts to exercise only for a short period of time(on and off).‹ Usually these individuals start to exercise often as they feel that they have to exercise or must exercise. They may not truly want to exercise. After a while, they stop regular exercise when this obligation to exercise begins to feel like a burden to them.

Thus leading to the fact that the whole concept on exercising is foreign to these two groups of people.The second cause would be that most Singaporeans often eat out daily since they lack time to prepare food and also perceive it as a hassle.This might be due to the (prevalent habit) culture of consuming takeaways(businesses make use of this deep rooted culture to provide delivering takeaways services that further boost this trend,eg GrabFood or Foodpanda) daily since it's more convenient as compared to preparing their own food. Since most of the food sold outside are often high in oil /salt or sugar,this might contribute to the unhealthy diet Singaporeans have and thus obesity.Fast(unhealthy) food are also often cheaper/sold at a more affordable rate and are widely and easily available to the youths.Since most fast food chains such as McDonalds are located near their area of residence (neighbourhood area) or school.

A higher number of fast-food outlets in an individual's home neighbourhood is associated with increased prevalence of obesity. Since there's a higher chance of youths patronising these outlets to consume food. Higher neighborhood fast food availability will lead to an increase in an individual's fast food consumption.The incessant/ceaseless and inescapable marketing/advertising of unhealthy foods and sugary/soft drinks has make it tough for Singaporean youths to lead a healthy life. The third cause would be the lack of awareness on the condition of the food they consume on a daily basis.According to the results of a survey released last Monday(Jan 29) by Nanyang Technological University(NTU) that up to 90 per cent of university students in Singapore are unable to identify hidden sugars added to food and drinks also Especially for the younger generation - I don't think they are very well aware (of the health consequences). Even if they see it on TV, they don't care, said Ms Jaclyn Reutens, a dietitian at Aptima Nutrition & Sports Consultants.This leads to the formation of a nonchalant attitude towards the type of food they consume.( due to low level of consciousness on the nutritional values of the food they consume.)

This thus lead to a lack of knowledge on how the unhealthy food they consume can lead to obesity and might cause an increase in obesity rate due to the lack of prevention measures on the individual's part.Another reason why youths lack the awareness would be that students are caught up with work to show ample concern for their health as they do not consider as their priority.Furthermore information on nutritional values are not easily accessible and thus consumers are not acquainted with it. To add on to the third cause,youths in Singapore are oblivious to their consumption that the government,the Ministry of Health (MOH) has started consulting the public on four possible measures that include banning and taxing some pre-packaged sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).High sugar intake is linked to increased risk of obesity and diabetes, MOH said in a media release on Tuesday (Dec 4).