hankyoreh

By　Jin Myeong-seon
　Obesity afflicts 14 out of every 100 elementary, middle, and high school students in South Korea, a study shows.
　According to figures released Sunday from a Ministry of Education, Science and Technology sample study of 2011 school health examinations on 181 thousand students at 743 elementary, middle, and high schools across the country, 85.7% of those examined were of normal weight, while 14.3% were found to be obese.
　The number of obese students was up 2.7 percent from the 11.6% recorded in 2007. The number of extremely obese students also showed a steady increase, rising from 0.8% in 2007 to 1.3% last year.
　People are classified as slightly obese when their weight is 20% to 29% above standard for their height, moderately obese when it is between 30% and 49% of the standard, and extremely obese when it is over 50%.
　The overall percentage of students classified as underweight based on their body mass index fell to 4.6% last year from 5.8% in 2007. But among high school students, the percentage was up from 6.3% to 6.6%. A gender-based difference was especially salient, with a drop from 6.9% to 6.4% among female students compared to a rise from 5.8% to 6.7% among male students. Analysts said this was due to the prevalence of dieting among male students as part of a bodybuilding trend.
　The study also found poor vision among many students, with more than half found to have vision of 0.7 or lower in one eye or to wear eyeglasses. Some 57.6% of students were found to have impaired vision, exceeding 50% for the first time since 2001.
　Lack of exercise and sleep were found to be serious problems among high school students. 43.2% said they slept less than six hours a day, while only 22.1% practice the recommended regimen of vigorous exercise at least three times a week.
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