Gen+Y?++'Measure+Up'+Generation+Y+and+Obesity

Name: Chih-Chi Lee Student No: N8092036 Tutor's Name: Abbey Hamilton

__**Artefact** __ media type="youtube" key="9dL4lN6GKi4" height="315" width="560" align="center"

‘The more you gain the more you have to lose.’ This ‘measure up’ obesity is an interesting advertisement authorised by the Australian Government in Canberra, spoken by M. Cullen, M. Main and T. Coupland. Obesity is a key public health issue as there is an increased prevalence of it amongst Australian population. As stated in the advertisement, one in two adults is considered overweight. Interestingly, people only start to worry about their overall health once they get onto certain life stages, for example, when they are married and have children. That’s the time they start to think about changes to their lifestyles, so that they can live longer and watch their children grow (Australian Better Health Initiative, 2008). People often find it a lot easier to put on weight than to lose weight, and if people don’t start to control their lifestyle habits that is where chronic life diseases can be developed where more serious cases could lead to death. This advertisement therefore encourages people as an initiative to constantly measure up their weight in order to avoid further weight gains. For men having waist lines over 94cm and women over 80cm, it increases the risks of chronic diseases such as heart diseases and type II diabetes (Australian Better Health Initiative, 2008).

__**Public Health Issue **__ The overweight and obesity rates amongst adults have doubled over the past two decades, which Australia is now being ranked as one of the fattest developed (Australian Government – Department of Health and Ageing, 2009). The obesity epidemic appeared with increasing frequency and rising concerns in Australia, especially among Generation Y (Biggs, 2006). The 1985 Australian Health and Fitness Survey (AHFS) and the 1995 National Nutrition Survey (NNS) served as the most recent national survey data (Biggs, 2006), and drawing on data from these surveys, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) have reported the following prevalence rates using the graph below:

This graph clearly showed that the level of obesity and overweight had been increased dramatically among boys and girls aged between seven and fifteen measured in 1995 (Generation Y), compare to the same age group measured in 1985 (Generation X). The obese and overweight rate for boys had been increased from 10.7 percent in 1985 to 20 percent in 1995, and for girls, it had been increased from 11.8 percent in 1985 to 21.5 percent in 1995.

__**Literature Review **__ Obesity has now become more commonly spread among the Australian population. Excess body weight have higher rates of death and illness, and contributes to medical risk for conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, psychological problems, women’s reproductive problems, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and some cancers (Australian bureau of statistics, 2008; WHO 2003). High body mass was also responsible for 7.5% of the total burden of disease and injury in Australia in 2003 (AIHW 2007), and it has been estimated that overweight and obesity along with their associated illnesses costs the Australian society and governments a total of $21 billion in 2005 (Access Economics, 2006).

The National Health Survey (NHS) conducted by the ABS is a key national data source on obesity. According to the 2004-2005 National Health Survey (NHS), almost 2.5 million Australian adults were obese, and a further 4.9 million were overweight, which accounting for more than half (54%) of the adult population (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Data on overweight and obesity have been collected over the past four NHS surveys (conducted between 1989-1990, 1995, 2001, and 2004-2005) providing information on changes in prevalence over a 15 year time period(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Key findings from the publication of Overweight and Obesity in Australian adults in 2004-2005 supported that the proportion of Australian adults who are obese doubled over the 15-year period between 1989-1990 and 2004- 2005, jumping from 9% to 18% (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Men were much more likely to be overweight than women (43% compared with 28% in 2004-2005), and men were slightly more likely to be obese (19% compared with 17%), (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008).

Obesity is more commonly measured using the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a tool used to assess overweight, obesity and monitor changes in body weight (National Institutes of Health, 2008). BMI is a weight-to-height ratio, and is considered to be a reasonable reflection of body fat for most people (Biggs, 2006). Among adults, a person with a BMI greater than 25kg/m is considered overweight, while a BMI greater than 30kg/m is considered obese (Biggs, 2006). In a past research conducted to examine the relationship between perceived body weight and measured BMI among urban Aboriginal Australian adults, responses to a question on perceived weight with BMI based on measured health and weight were compared where 248 Aboriginal volunteers aged above 15 years took part in a larger health study in the Darwin area between September 2003 and March 2004 (Cunningham, Dunbar, Maple-Brown & O’Dea, 2008). Data on perceived weight were collected during the first six months of the study (September 2003-March 2004). In 2004/05, 57% of Indigenous people aged 15 years and above in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey were classified as overweight or obese based on self-reported height and weight (Cunningham, Dunbar, Maple-Brown & O’Dea, 2008). However, the results may not be as reliable as self-reported height and weight has potential error on the accuracy of the information that the participants provide. Although using BMI can be an easily obtained and inexpensive method which could be used by anyone, there is however some limitations applied when analysing BMI measurement. It may not be accurate in measuring the types of people with more muscle mass, larger body size, higher bone density, weight and fat distribution in different parts of the body.

 Fat distribution is an important consideration in assessing overweight or obesity. Sex specific waist circumference can be another method when measuring abdominal obesity for both men and women, where men with more than 94cm, and women more than 80cm are considered to be obese (Australian Government-Department of Health and Ageing, 2009). Research by the title of Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study done in 2000 and 2005 identified predictors of increasing waist circumference (WC) over a five year period in a contemporary population of Australian adults, where longitudinal national cohort of adults participated in the study. A total of 2521 men and 2726 women aged above 25 years at baseline who participated in the study and provided anthropometric measurements at baseline (1999-2000) and the follow up (2005). The results showed that there has been an increase of baseline WC by more than 5% occurring in a significant proportion of men and women over the five years period, consisting 27% of men and 38% of women (Ademi, Magliano, McNeil, Peeters, Shaw, Stevenson & Walls, 2010). Poor diet quality was the key predictor of the greater than 5% increase of baseline WC in this cohort (Ademi, Magliano, McNeil, Peeters, Shaw, Stevenson & Walls, 2010). The waist circumference measurement can be more reliable and accurate, as it is a better indicator of health risk than BMI.

 Healthcare professionals also rely on waist-to-height ratio, which have been used for decades, as the e xcessive accumulation of body fat, particularly in the abdominal region, is associated with CVD in children and adults (Davies, Hughes & Nambiar, 2009). The research showed that the waist-to-height ratio assesses abdominal adiposity and has been proposed to be of greater value in predicting obesity-related cardiovascular health risks in children than BMI, as the children are still growing. BMI is therefore not the most accurate method as it does not consider child development and maturation (Davies, Hughes & Nambiar, 2009). The aims of this study was to develop waist-to-height ratio cut-offs for overweight and obesity based on the 85th and 95th percentiles for the percentage body fat in a cohort of children and adolescents (Davies, Hughes & Nambiar, 2009). A total of 2773 male and female students of the 1985 Australian Health and Fitness Survey, aged 8–16 years were selected and the results showed that when comparing the waist-to-height of both sexes, males have slightly higher waist-to-height ratio than females (Davies, Hughes & Nambiar, 2009). Waist-to-height ratio is useful in clinical and population health as it can identify children with higher percentage of body fat and are at greater risk of developing weight-related CVD at an earlier age (Davies, Hughes & Nambiar, 2009). Compare to just measuring waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio is equally fair for short and tall people, and is valid for both children and adults. However, one disadvantage with measuring waist-to-height ration is that it does not distinguish between excess fat and muscle (National Institutes of Health, 2008).

__**Cultural and social analysis** __ <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Social, cultural and economic factors have played critical roles in the etiology of obesity and the increase in obesity prevalence among Generation Y. This results in an increase in morbidity, mortality, and has substantial long term economic social costs (Australian Society for the Study of Obesity, n.d.). In 2008 the total annual cost of obesity in Australia, including health system costs, productivity declines and careers costs was estimated at around $ 58 billion (Access Economics, 2008). The main factors that lead to obesity are the increased sedentary lifestyles, decreased physical activity levels and the increased energy intakes of Generation Y. All of these factors are influenced by many of the social and cultural forces that shape this generation, such as technology, family structure and fast food availability.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">The force of technology causes Generation Y become more obese than previous generations, as they choose passive entertainments such as watching TV, playing computer and video games, rather than active entertainments such as bike riding and backyard sports. Generation Y today spends more time watching TV and research have shown that one quarter of the influence on their lives are derived from TV and movies (McCrindle Research, n.d.). Generation Y has lived their entire life immersed in digital technology and are collectively known as the Digital Natives (McCrindle Research, n.d.). Therefore, a key characteristic of this generation is that they have been exposed to new technologies during their formative years and so the digital language and technology is almost their first language (McCrindle Research, n.d.). Today’s technology allowed this young generation to fill their social need from texting and blogging to twittering and instant messaging. These are all logged in and linked-up communications rather than face-to-face contacts. In addition, it is unfortunate that passive forms of entertainment are likely to be displacing traditional recreational activities (National Institutes of Health, 2008). This leads to increased screen time and subsequently decreased physical activity levels where increased sedentary lifestyle therefore leads to obesity.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Changes in family structures and dynamics among Generation Y can potentially leads to obesity too. Research showed that there is an inc<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">reasing trend of dual parents both working at the same time and families have become smaller over the generations (McCrindle Research, n.d.). This decreased household size and busier lifestyle leads to less time for families to spend on outdoor activit ies and play with their children. Children nowadays are being driven to places (such as school) that they may once have walked to, all due to the increasing use of cars, and perceptions that roads and local neighbourhoods are unsafe (National Institutes of Health, 2008). <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">The environment around Generation Y does not support healthy eating habits as well as a changing social and physical environment promotes the overconsumption of food, particularly high-fat and energy-dense foods, where this is largely responsible for this energy imbalance and the current obesity epidemic (Australian Society for the Study of Obesity, n.d.). Obesity is due mainly to an imbalance of energy intake from the diet, and an individual’s cultural background also play a role, as foods specific to certain cultures that are often prepared with a lot of fat or salt (National Institutes of Health, 2008). Furthermore, family gatherings offering large amounts of food may make it difficult to pay attention to proper portion control and serving size (National Institutes of Health, 2008). Nowadays high –calorie processed fast foods cost less and are easier to find and prepare than healthier foods. People seek for taste and convenience rather than nutrition, more people tend to eat out or get ‘take away’ instead of cooking (National Institutes of Health, 2008).

__<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">**Analysis of the artefact and learning reflection** __ <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">The artefact represents that Australia is now facing a dramatic increase in obesity, as one in two adults is being overweight. It outlines the common factors that contribute to obesity and promote how obesity can seriously affect health in order to prevent it. It is a reliable advertisement as it is created by Australian government which shows that the government has taking obesity into concern, as people don’t realise how serious the problem is, and try to reduce the prevalence of obesity. Once people are getting older, it will be more difficult to lose weight, therefore weight need to be control as early as possible. Measuring the exact amount of a person’s body fat is not easy. The most accurate measures are to weigh a person underwater or in a chamber that uses air displacement to measure body volume, or to use an X-ray test called Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry, also known as DEXA (National Institutes of Health, 2008). However, these methods are often expensive and time-consuming, therefore not practical for the average person, and are done only in research centres with special equipment (National Institutes of Health, 2008). There are several methods carried out to measure a person's body fat that are inexpensive and easily obtained, which can be used by average people to determine whether or not their body is within a healthy range such as measuring BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Throughout the research for this assessment, it has given me a clear understanding of the connections between social, cultural and environmental forces in relation to obesity. By knowing different social, cultural factors will affect my future learning and think process when comes to dealing with obesity from different cultural, socio-economic background, to understand different cultural perspective. Environmental factors means the world around us, and our access to places to exercise and healthy food choices played an important role, and have great impact on our everyday life. Nevertheless, attention to diet and physical activity is paramount for not only to prevent further weight gain, but also better for weight loss and subsequent maintenance (Australian Government – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011).

__<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 120%;">**Reference** __ <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Ademi, Z., Magliano, D. J., McNeil, J. J., Peeters, A., Shaw, J., Stevenson, C. & Walls, H. L. (2010). Predictors of increasing waist circumference in an Australian population. //Public Health Nutrition, 14//(5), 870-881. doi: 10.1017/S1368980010002673

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). ABS submission: House standing committee on health and ageing inquire into obesity in Australia. Retrieved from: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). Health: obesity. Retrieved from: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Australian Government – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2011). Overweight and obesity. Retrieved from: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Australian Government – Department of Health and Ageing. (2009). Promoting healthy weight. Retrieved from: []

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Australian Society for the Study of Obesity. (n.d.). Obesity in Australian adults: Causes, prevention & management. Retrieved from: [|http://www.asso.org.au/freestyler/gui/files//factsheet_adult_causes_prev_mment.pdf]

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Biggs, M. (2006). Overweight and obesity in Australia. Retrieved from: <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Cunningham, J., Dunbar, T., Maple-Brown, L. & O’Dea, K. (2008). Perceived weight versus body mass index among unban Aboriginal Australian: Do perceptions and measurements match? //Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 32//(2), 135-138. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2008.00189.x

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">Davies, P. S. W., Hughes, L. & Nambiar, S. (2009). Developing waist-to-height ratio cut-offs to define overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. //Public Health Nutrition, 13//(10), 1566-1574. doi: 10.1017/S1368980009993053

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">McCrindle Research. (n.d.). Emerging trends, enduring truth: The spiritual attitudes of the new generations. Retrieved from: []

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">McCrindle Research. (n.d.). The new generation at work: Attracting, recruiting, retaining & training Generation Y. Retrieved from: []

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 110%;">National Institutes of Health. (2008). Understanding adults obesity. Retrieved from: []

__<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 16px;">**My Discussion** __ <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 14px;">**PAGE:** The Impact of Obesity on Individual, Society and the Economy **<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">COMMENT: ** <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 14px;">Hi Melvin, it is such an interesting article, I like your cultural artefact, as the picture really stands out the current public health issue - obesity. As the increased prevalence of obesity amongst Australian population compare to previous years, we start to see the negative side effects of how obesity can seriously affect the whole society. You have mentioned the connections between the individuals, society, and economic costs in relation to obesity, as nowadays in Australia, the costs spend on obesity related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, and Type II diabetes are much more than ever. I like the anti-soda advertisement at the end, it is good to see that the government try to help people to fight against obesity, and hopefully, through this advertisement, it will reduce the soft-drink consumption.

**<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">PAGE: ** <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 14px;">Obesity in Generation Y – The (Ir)Rationalities of Modern Technology <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 14px;">**COMMENT:** <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 14px;">Very interesting article! You explained why Generation Y is facing on obesity epidemic, and identify the societal determinants that causing obesity. Technology is obviously the biggest contributor to obesity as it promotes sedentary lifestyle and increased energy intake. The technology had improved so much, as you mentioned, iPhones and iPads increase the convenience in people’s everyday lives, such as allowing people to use voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, etc, which the phones have become more like personal assistant. Increased screen time and advertisements that promoting unhealthy food also affect Gen Y’s food choice. Nowadays, people only care about efficiency and calculability, and that’s why fast-food restaurants become so popular and commonly accepted by people. I like the cartoons you used, which represent what the modern life looks like.