Overweight and obesity have become one of the most serious public health problems worldwide, this condition has been increasing in children and adolescents. Collisions at the preventive level have not yielded the expected results; on the contrary, the number of children and adolescents with this condition is increasing each year at an alarming rate.
The latest report of the National Assessment of Learning Outcomes Chile, SIMCE, (1) applied to students in eighth grade nationwide, indicates that 44% of adolescents are obese or overweight and of them 23 % present risks of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in adulthood.
The reasons for this are varied, from genetic or environmental aspects to family lifestyles (2) (3), educational level and socioeconomic status (4) (1).
Early adolescents, have profound changes, both physical and psychosocial level, changes that make them vulnerable to install lifestyles that favor weight gain (5). For example, there is a transition to independence and autonomy during this stage, generating own time management and occupations they perform, so they tend to engage in passive activities or have changes in their sleep habits (6). By contrast, teens who maintain healthy lifestyles as structured physical activity are less likely to have such nutritional condition (7).
The participation of early adolescents in various daily activities determine a personal occupational pattern, which involves the type of chosen activities, organization and structure of these activities, quantity and quality of time allocated to them, which could influence weight gain.
This literature review considers expose occupational early adolescents behaviors associated with obesity and overweight, subjecting this condition to an analysis from the occupational perspective.
Keywords: Obesity; early adolescents; Activities |
