Should you worry about your child’s pandemic weight gain?
- Date: 06-Apr-2021
- Source: Gulf News
- Sector:Healthcare
- Country:Jordan
Should you worry about your child’s pandemic weight gain?
Nadine Sabbah's 10-year-old daughter always loved being physically active. Pre-pandemic she did four hours of gymnastics per week, and like most kids her age she'd spend hours running around with friends in her community. But then COVID-19 hit. Her gym classes were cancelled, and she went from having regular exercise to staying home all day. With news of the virus so rife and uncertain at the beginning of the pandemic, the little girl even became afraid just to go for a walk outside in her local area. But it was when mum Nadine noticed her daughter becoming self-conscious about her body that she started to worry. "She started to gain a bit of weight and it really affected her behaviour," says the Lebanese/ French expat, who also has a 6-year-old daughter. "She started becoming anxious, and we noticed she would wear only loose-fitting clothes to hide her body." Nadine is far from alone in being concerned about her child's weight over the pandemic. As lockdown made our worlds shrink smaller - closing down schools, gyms and travel options - we all grew larger, according to research published in JAMA Network Open. People put on an average of 1. 8 pounds