Nutrition

Athletes turn to ergogenic aids such as anabolic (muscle-building) steroids to obtain a competitive advantage that often comes with huge financial rewards even if they know of the health and legal implications. These steroids can improve performance, remove psychological constraints that can impact performance, and increase the speed of recovery from training and competition. No, I have not noticed a recent change among professional and amateur athletes except more of them appear to be getting caught. The use of ergogenic aids is difficult to detect except through drug tests conducted by major sporting bodies. As such, in a culture of cheating, athletes will simply turn to newer ergogenic ads that are more difficult to detect.

Kids are not necessarily lazier than previous generations. It's just that newer forms of entertainment such as video games and television are getting their time and attention. While technology innovation helped create the problem of kids not getting enough exercise, it may well create the solution to the problems it has caused. For instance, new exercise video games are coming to market that introduce more activity. Still, the ultimate answer is the education of parents and their kids about the importance of striking a balance between good-old fashioned exercise and other activities. This is why dropping PE requirements and/or recess is such a bad idea. It sends the wrong message to children and their parents and will lead to an even greater increase in obesity rates and associated health issues in our country.

3. I believe there is a relationship between obesity and sedentary lifestyles as well as a poor diet. I also believe that many children are resistant to exercise primarily because they haven't found the kinds of activities that they actually like and feel self-conscious when they don't perform well. Also, young children simply don't realize the importance of exercise. Thus, children prefer to watch television or play video games. However, while many children may not enjoy exercise, they may enjoy sports or other play activities and the trick is to find the ones that are right for the child and to make them part of the child's daily routine.