Obesity levels are growing at alarming rates and national Child Health Week seems a good time to evaluate the situation.

With an estimated 25 percent of Tennessey schoo students overweight, and an additional 15 percent at risk for being overweight, Tennessee has received an "F" from "Report Card: State Efforts to Control Childhood Obesity."

Ranking 48th among states for overall health, about 16% of children ages 6 to 11 are obese (statistics from 1999 to 2002), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Obesity Association Survey.    That figure is up from 11% in the 1994 survey, 6.5% in the 1980 survey and 4% in the 1974 survey. 

In the US as a whole, some 43% of students reported that they were trying to lose weight. 

The problem, experts say, is rooted in an increasingly sedantary lifestyle in which the average child gets less than 15 minutes of vigorous activity in a day.    Hospital costs related to childhood obesity have tripled in the last 20 years.

This week, Leisure Services in Cookeville has been addressing the problem through a series of events in celebration of Child Health Week. 

And even after this week's focus on Child Health,  Leisure Services and the City of Cookeville offer many ways for children to stay healthy:
• Disc golf at Cane Creek Park
• After-school open gym
• Paddle boating at Cane Creek Park
• Walking or running around Cane Creek Park
• Summer, fall and spring day camps
• Baseball and softball leagues
• Leisure Services School of Dance
• Power of 10 walking program
• Martial arts
• Cane Creek Gymnasium (table tennis, four square, basketball, indoor soccer and volleyball)
• Toddler Time
• Biking at Cane Creek Park
• Fitness classes
• Hunter safety
• Theatre opportunities at Cookeville Performing Arts Center
• Playgrounds at Cane Creek Park, Cinderella Park, Franklin Avenue Park, Park View Park and West End Park.

For more information about Child Health Week, visit the Child Health Week Web site at www.tennesseeanytime.org/gov/child-health/.