Children growing up in home environments where their parents are always stressed out are more likely to be obese, a new study finds.
Childhood obesity can be a serious health hazard disrupting a child's mental and physical development. Along with unhealthy diets and lack of exercise, parental stress also plays its part in this disorder.
Parental stress directly contributes to childhood obesity, revealed researchers from St. Michael's Hospital in a press statement
They found that children belonging to parents who were extremely stressed out have BMIs that are 2 percent higher than children of non-stressed parents.
Material for the study was taken from data collected during the Children's Health Study. The children's BMI was calculated each year while their parents were asked to answer questionnaires about their psychological stress. Questions included how often in the last month were they able to control important factors in their life and whether difficulties in their lives were piling up so high that they were unable to overcome them.
Parental stress' contribution to childhood obesity
Parents who are stressed out are more likely to reduce the amount of physical activities in the household along with feeding children more unhealthy food. Seeing their parents stressed, children also tend to become stressed and cope with it by exercising less and eating more. However, a definite link between stress and obesity is yet to be found.
Researchers also found that children living under stressful conditions gained 7 percent more weight than their peers during the study period. While this number may seem small, it is very significant because it pertains to children gaining weight quickly. During this tender age, the eating and exercising habits of such children contribute largely to their development. If the process of weight gain continues, children many face severe obesity and health issues as adults
Finding a solution To This Problem
Lead author Dr. Ketan Shankardass suggests that it's not enough to request parents to change their behavior. Policymakers should ensure a steady source of healthy food for children living in such stressful and challenging conditions. These children should also be given an opportunity to live in a peaceful neighborhood and enough financial support to cope with any kind of stress.
"Childhood is a time when we develop inter-connected habits related to how we deal with stress, how we eat and how active we are," Dr. Shankardass said. "It's a time when we might be doing irreversible damage or damage that is very hard to change later."
