With winter rapidly receding for another year, next summer brings with it the promise of longer nights, a warm sun, and an opportunity for children to escape the confines of home and go outside to enjoy playing outside during the long nights of summer. summer.

However, with advances in digital entertainment and along with the fears parents face of letting their children play outside unsupervised, many young people will spend the next few nights in front of the television or video game console rather than running outside. control with your friends. This alarming reluctance to venture outside to play tag, hide and seek, cowboys and Indians, or the current game of choice is widely attributed to the rising tide of obesity in our youth.

So far this year, the media have highlighted this issue when reporting on the health risks of being overweight, not only in children, but also in adults. People classified as obese are much more likely to develop life-changing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and osteoarthritis, to name just a few. Also, from the opposite end of the range, these obesity reports are compounded by the recent ‘size zero’ outcry that has flooded our celebrity-obsessed culture. However, both extremes pose numerous health risks and the current buzzword for evaluating whether you are “too thin” or “too fat” is BMI (body mass index).

The BMI looks at the relationship between your weight and height to assess what your body weight should be. The guide can be used to establish whether a person is of “normal” weight or not; But there have been numerous debates as to whether BMI is an accurate assessment of weight-related health, as not everyone can agree on the point at which someone becomes “healthy” or “unhealthy.” With confusion over what to eat or how much to weigh, are we becoming an image-obsessed society or the possibility of a health crisis when our indulgences finally catch up with us?

For healthcare providers, these lifestyle trends can be cause for concern. If the NHS is struggling to cope with the diseases of an active generation, how will it cope with the consequences of today’s sedentary generation? Some private health insurance providers have jumped on the bandwagon and reward members who lead a healthy lifestyle or have a “normal” BMI by offering a discount on their premiums. Alternatively, loads can occur if your lifestyle is not as healthy or your BMI is a little higher than necessary.

But if the experts can’t agree on what your BMI should be, how can your private health insurance provider be so sure? Health-on-Line, for example, has recognized this confusion and eliminated height and weight questions from its application process. Just tell them your age and what you want to be covered for and you will receive a competitive quote for the same amount, large or small.