Question
In some countries, the average weight of people is increasing and their levels of health and fitness
are decreasing.
What do you think are the causes of these problems? What measures can be taken to solve them?
Answer
Around the world, it can be observed that people are becoming increasingly overweight, and at the
same time their fitness levels are dropping. There are many different reasons for this, and many
possible solutions. This essay will look at a few of these.
The reasons for people’s weight gain and loss of fitness are hard to pinpoint and too numerous to
explain in detail. However, the biggest contributing factor is likely to be the lifestyle changes that
have come about in the last one hundred years or so. As people no longer have to forage for food or
even do manual labor, they are burning fewer and fewer calories. Recently, the developed world has
seen people working from offices and spending all their time at computer screens. In addition,
supermarkets and fast food restaurants now provide copious amounts of high calorie food for
people to consume. These two factors have combined to create the obesity epidemic that plagues
the world today.
Finding solutions to these problems is obviously very difficult because these new ways of living are
already deeply ingrained in our culture. However, the best solution is probably to start educating
people from a younger age to eat healthily and get more exercise. Children are very open to these
ideas, and if they learn about the importance of nutrition and exercise from a young age, they will
adapt well and stand a better chance of living healthily in future. By making these classes mandatory
for all children, a trend will be created leading to the improvement of overall public health.
In conclusion, the current problems of obesity and unfitness are caused by many problems, which
generally stem from global trends in lifestyle. Solutions are hard to implement, but may be
successful if children are educated from a young age.
