( A recent health education survey has sh...)Worried About Weight,Health

A recent health education survey has shown that thousands of teenage schoolgirls are obsessed by mostly ungrounded worries about their weight//.

While around 60 per cent of these girls, aged 12 to 15, considered themselves to be overweight only 15 per cent could be medically classified under the category of overweight or obese.

The results of the annual School Health Education Survey have prompted the Schools Health Education Unit, to issue an appeal to end the ‘obsession’ with skeletal body shapes portrayed by the media and fashion industry.

According to David Regis, the unit's research manager, ‘Youngsters worry about looking and being fashionable and there is a lot of evidence that girls get praise for being slim and pretty. The media is the most visible sign of this pressure but I don't doubt that some parents give children all sorts of messages about how they want them to look and about how they want to look themselves.’

He added, ‘Girls are less likely to be comfortable within their skins if their mothers are unhappy with their own body shapes and always on diets.’

The Schools Health Education unit was initially started at the Exeter University and has nodw evolved into an independent survey and publishing company. The unit has collected details of health and behavior of over 700,000 pupils since 1977. They have also shown ink between the desire to lose weight and low self-esteem.

‘They are the ones who are most likely to skip breakfast or lunch and eat a calorie-conscious diet but it is certain that most of these young women do not need to lose weight,’ says the report. ‘We would like to add our voice to those who wish to see a much greater variety of body shapes presented positively in print and other media.’

The survey revealed that 55 per cent of 12- to 13-year-old girls considered themselves as overweight with the figures rising to 56 per cent among the 14- and 15-year-olds. However on
'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Worried About The Sensitive Skin Of Your 2 Year Old? Fetal Skin Cells To Offer Help
2. Consumers Worried About Trans-Fats The Most
3. US Airlines Worried About Bird Flu In Passengers
4. Bihar Health Officials Worried As Polio Cases Soar
5. MoH Considering Hiking Fees, Private Institutes Are Worried
6. One in Four Specialist Trainee Doctors Very Worried About Future Job Prospects
7. U.S Officials Worried Over Failure In Preventing Food Contamination
8. Breast Cancer Survivors Worry About Infertility
9. Breast Cancer Survivors Worry About Infertility
10. Improving Lighting Could Bring About A Change In Alzheimers Patients
11. Poll Finds Many Americans Misinformed About Cancer