Two thirds of obese have those problems. A bit less than half (49%) have those problems. A quarter of recommended weight have those problems.
I'd rather keep working at getting down to my recommended weight. It's not worth the risk. (Plus I'd be a really bad example as a health care professional if I didn't, I think.)
I'm with you on this one. People who are obese (BMI of over 30) have a 10-50% increased risk of death from all causes, compared with those of a healthy weight. Even if it's only 10%, that's high enough for me! Sure, the blood pressure/cholesterol might not get you, but the risk of diabetes complications, stroke, organ disease, cancer, and respiratory problems just might.
My BMI nearly hit 30 this year, which was a bad sign. After 25, your BMI should not equal your age!
On a totally unrelated tangent, that's my favourite XKCD, and every time I see your icon it makes me smile :)
To me, this is a study that should be used to make medical professionals look at the whole person and not just the scales. Like my doctor did the other day when my EKG had a teeny abnormality on it. As I said to him, the ER saw a person who needed to ose 60 pounds, not one who already lost 90. He saw one who lost 90 and had excellent health for the most part over all and was able to say yes, Kibbles, you are ok. My fear is that some people (not velvetpage) will use this to justify not watching their weight, which IS a part of overall health. As it said, this didn't even check cardiac health, just BP and cholesterol.
For me, the best part about losing weight was my poor poor knees. They thank me. ;)
I love that XKCD but I love the commercial more. It makes me smile and I'll watch it on youtube now and then, and think of what I love.
I have no trouble believing that poor gross motor skills can contribute to obesity, because they mean the kid is less likely to succeed in gym class, and when all your experiences with school exercise lead to feelings of failure, you're that much less likely to seek out exercise later on.
However, I'd like to see them differentiate between fine and gross motor skills - this study, or at least this article, seem to equate the two, and that's not always accurate. I have very good hand-eye co-ordination, but my gross motor skills are not nearly as well developed and never were.
The culture of gym class is likewise bad news. I loathed gym growing up. I can't tell you how happy I was to find out that marching band met my PE requirement in high school. Far too many PE programs wind up being punitive and discouraging to kids who neither an aptitude nor interest in sports.
I was very lucky because I had alternatives outside of school; surfing, riding my bike, martial arts classes and so on. So I came to enjoy physical activity a great deal. Basically I had a chance to do things that were not competitive and which did not have some asshat of coach riding me. In my experience, competition can really bring out the worst in people. That's one reason why I don't think I'll ever get into any kind of tournament martial arts. Not mention that the one I'd be interested in, Judo, can be hard on the body in competition. Gettin too old here for that.
I had Fin's gross motor skills checked out because I do think it is part of the big picture, and sure enough, he needs PT (and gets it). Plus socially, being clumsy and poor at sports can be a bad thing. He's no athlete but at least they can throw a ball at him and he won't get hit in the head. It helped a lot of stuff. (BTW did you know playing catch is used in speech therapy to teach kids with severe problems like Ted has how to have a conversation? After all, catch is like a coversation, isn't it?)
From the perspective of an adult Aspie: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for doing that. My gym teachers lied to me and told me I was normal, and gave me average marks because I tried. My parents said I just needed more practice. I wish so much that somebody had affirmed the reality of my experience that something was wrong, and tried to help me.
They're REALLY good about sensory-motor issues at his therapy place. (He's aspie too.) We've made great strides in his adversions, making things tolerable (WITHOUT forcing crap on him), made him more confident in speaking with others (Without saying DAMNIT MAKE EYE CONTACT) and working on coordination for sports and day to day life. Turns out he was kind of weak on one side, and because of processing problems, he just isn't well coordinated. He just took a 17 part Sensory Intergration Praxis Test so they can pinpoint WHERE the 'stuck bit' is. Motor planning, that's the phrase. He needs work on that. He gets OT and PT. He graduated speech therapy. He feels comfortable having a conversation, can initiate them, can maintain a topic of someone else's choice (its hard)and make at least some eye contact. He does need to study idioms though. He takes them literally. We're balancing between making his life easier with not trying to change who he is. Some of the Aspie traits that he has, if you ask us, are quite desirable and make him the wonderful and unique kid that he is and will help him be successful.
That is wonderful. I really wish I had gotten that kind of help. I got respect for my strengths, and my parents helped me with the social issues, but there were other things that I never got help for (or even affirmation that there WAS something wrong) at all.
Do the people who work with him on the physical and sensory stuff work with adults as well? Are they in Toronto? My physical coordination issues and my messed-up sense of taste have never been treated. I think I also have problems with visual perception of moving objects which make my problems in sports worse--I can't hit a baseball, for instance, and it's one of the reasons I have trouble driving. I finally got my formal diagnosis (ADHD (inattentive) plus AS) a little over a year ago, so I want to get all the help I should have gotten twenty years ago.
They do work with adults, and they even work informally with me. I have some oral issues, and some processing verbal stuff. At least we know where my kid got his stuff!
Unfortunately, they're in Dubuque, IA. They have a great approach, they work as a team. The PT/OT/Speech people. Some sessions even overlap.
FInbar had baseball trouble, and they worked on it. I'm not sure if they're done yet.
I do hope you find some place to get help, because I see my son in a whole new light. He was anxious, and cried a lot, and couldn't face people, and had anger outbursts, was afraid of everything and everyone, and could only talk about tornadoes. He ate hardly anything, and noises bothered him way more than average. He still has problems, but his quality of life is so much better. People deserve that, I think. The therapies are so unobtrusive, which we LOVE. It's things he can do in his every day life. (For example, they have a giant rubber band around the front two legs of his chair. When he needs that 'sensory input' to regulate himself, he can quietly fiddle with the rubber band. Beats being restless and disrupting a class, you know?
That centre really does sound wonderful. I love your attitude toward your son as well! And I agree with you totally, that unobtrusive therapies that improve quality of life are wonderful.
I can pass for neurotypical easily in most social interactions, since my parents caught on early to the fact that I had social skills problems and needed to be explicitly taught the unwritten rules of social behaviour (e.g. eye contact). However, I have major problems with executive functioning that are seriously compromising my university work, and my physical and sensory issues never got treated. I'm in therapy for the school issues and for the emotional issues that going undiagnosed for so long caused, but I don't have anyone helping me with the coordination problems or the sensory problems. Fortunately, my only major sensory problem is oversensitivity to taste--I eat a fairly small selection of foods, with almost no fresh fruits or vegetables. I am also under-sensitive to light and colour, but I deal with that by surrounding myself with rainbow things and bright yellow things :).
Yes, executive functioning is hard for me and I am at a loss to how to deal with that. Besides my aspie son, I have a non verbal son with PDD-NOS so I am jsut kind of not doing stuff for myself, which isn't good.
Yeah, I haven't really been able to improve my executive functioning at all, just to get to know my brain a bit better to see what will help and hurt.
And no, not doing stuff for yourself isn't good, but it sounds to me like you are at least doing right by your kids, which is a lot more than a lot of parents can say.
I wrote a letter to the editor to the Star (which was published) about this a couple of years ago, when people were campaigning to increase phys ed requirements in schools. I argued that for the kids who wouldn't take phys ed voluntarily, it's actually a deterrent to exercising as adults and therefore counterproductive.
This goes along with some other studies of pudgy athletes. Many years ago, Outside magazine profiled some of these people in an issue. All of them were overweight, but all of them were competitive in some amateur sport. As a consequence of that fitness, all of them were very healthy in spite of their weight. However, none of them were tremendously overweight. So my guess is that inactivity plays a large role.
Also, the common obesity measures leave a lot out. At an employer health screening a few years back, I got lectured about weighing 190 lbs at 5'6". I almost tore off my shirt to refute the nurse practioner's conclusions. Weight vs height simply does not tell enough of the story to be more than a rule of thumb.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-12 10:39 pm (UTC)Two thirds of obese have those problems.
A bit less than half (49%) have those problems.
A quarter of recommended weight have those problems.
I'd rather keep working at getting down to my recommended weight. It's not worth the risk. (Plus I'd be a really bad example as a health care professional if I didn't, I think.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 12:58 am (UTC)My BMI nearly hit 30 this year, which was a bad sign. After 25, your BMI should not equal your age!
On a totally unrelated tangent, that's my favourite XKCD, and every time I see your icon it makes me smile :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 02:44 am (UTC)For me, the best part about losing weight was my poor poor knees. They thank me. ;)
I love that XKCD but I love the commercial more. It makes me smile and I'll watch it on youtube now and then, and think of what I love.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-12 11:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-12 11:10 pm (UTC)I have no trouble believing that poor gross motor skills can contribute to obesity, because they mean the kid is less likely to succeed in gym class, and when all your experiences with school exercise lead to feelings of failure, you're that much less likely to seek out exercise later on.
However, I'd like to see them differentiate between fine and gross motor skills - this study, or at least this article, seem to equate the two, and that's not always accurate. I have very good hand-eye co-ordination, but my gross motor skills are not nearly as well developed and never were.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 12:53 am (UTC)I was very lucky because I had alternatives outside of school; surfing, riding my bike, martial arts classes and so on. So I came to enjoy physical activity a great deal. Basically I had a chance to do things that were not competitive and which did not have some asshat of coach riding me. In my experience, competition can really bring out the worst in people. That's one reason why I don't think I'll ever get into any kind of tournament martial arts. Not mention that the one I'd be interested in, Judo, can be hard on the body in competition. Gettin too old here for that.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 02:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 03:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 03:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 03:31 am (UTC)Do the people who work with him on the physical and sensory stuff work with adults as well? Are they in Toronto? My physical coordination issues and my messed-up sense of taste have never been treated. I think I also have problems with visual perception of moving objects which make my problems in sports worse--I can't hit a baseball, for instance, and it's one of the reasons I have trouble driving. I finally got my formal diagnosis (ADHD (inattentive) plus AS) a little over a year ago, so I want to get all the help I should have gotten twenty years ago.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 03:43 am (UTC)Unfortunately, they're in Dubuque, IA. They have a great approach, they work as a team. The PT/OT/Speech people. Some sessions even overlap.
FInbar had baseball trouble, and they worked on it. I'm not sure if they're done yet.
I do hope you find some place to get help, because I see my son in a whole new light. He was anxious, and cried a lot, and couldn't face people, and had anger outbursts, was afraid of everything and everyone, and could only talk about tornadoes. He ate hardly anything, and noises bothered him way more than average. He still has problems, but his quality of life is so much better. People deserve that, I think. The therapies are so unobtrusive, which we LOVE. It's things he can do in his every day life. (For example, they have a giant rubber band around the front two legs of his chair. When he needs that 'sensory input' to regulate himself, he can quietly fiddle with the rubber band. Beats being restless and disrupting a class, you know?
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 03:54 am (UTC)I can pass for neurotypical easily in most social interactions, since my parents caught on early to the fact that I had social skills problems and needed to be explicitly taught the unwritten rules of social behaviour (e.g. eye contact). However, I have major problems with executive functioning that are seriously compromising my university work, and my physical and sensory issues never got treated. I'm in therapy for the school issues and for the emotional issues that going undiagnosed for so long caused, but I don't have anyone helping me with the coordination problems or the sensory problems. Fortunately, my only major sensory problem is oversensitivity to taste--I eat a fairly small selection of foods, with almost no fresh fruits or vegetables. I am also under-sensitive to light and colour, but I deal with that by surrounding myself with rainbow things and bright yellow things :).
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 04:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 04:24 am (UTC)And no, not doing stuff for yourself isn't good, but it sounds to me like you are at least doing right by your kids, which is a lot more than a lot of parents can say.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 03:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 03:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 12:45 am (UTC)Also, the common obesity measures leave a lot out. At an employer health screening a few years back, I got lectured about weighing 190 lbs at 5'6". I almost tore off my shirt to refute the nurse practioner's conclusions. Weight vs height simply does not tell enough of the story to be more than a rule of thumb.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-13 12:39 pm (UTC)*nods* A skinny office worker who runs on caffeine and sugar can be as unhealthy as a pudgy office worker who runs on cheeseburgers.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-15 01:19 am (UTC)