With the rising concerns over health issues, people have started to rely on body weight measurement as a critical indicator of their overall health. However, it begs the question if the same approach can be applied to everyone, including children and the elderly? In this blog, we take a deeper look into whether body scales are suitable for the use of senior citizens and children.
Before we delve into the topic, let’s first understand the functioning of body scales. These scales use bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to measure your body fat percentage, water content, and muscle mass, along with your weight. BIA estimates body composition by sending a small electrical current through your body and measuring the resulting resistance. The better the conducting our body, the more muscle and water we are likely to have, whereas body fat will impede or resist the flow of electrical impulses, registering a higher resistance. Based on the readings, the scales display the data on a LED screen.
Body Scales for Senior Citizens:
Senior citizens are prone to falls and accidents, and thus their safety while getting on and off the scale is important. Moreover, weight-bearing could pose an issue as it could affect their joints, joints that are already arthritic. Body scales come with glass tops, and this could be slippery, leading to a fall. Seafood diets drastically alter a person’s water content, which could account for body weight fluctuations. Senior citizens often experience edema or swelling in the legs, and this too will impact body weight measurements.
When it comes to BIA, it is dependent on the amount of water present in the body; senior adults have a higher body-fat percentage and less muscle mass. This disparity means that body scales may not give accurate readings of their body fat percentage, and thus their health risks associated with obesity.
Children’s growth and development stages are still undergoing a significant amount of change. Body scales are designed for adults and may not have the sensitivity to detect accurate readings for children. Some digital scales may prove difficult to read for toddlers, as they need to stand still for an accurate reading to be taken.
Furthermore, body composition rules are different for children as their muscle mass and body fat percentage vary depending on age and puberty stages. Children have more body water than adults and require additional hydration, suggesting that the body fat reading could instead represent a higher water percentage. Some children could be underweight because of illness or malnutrition, and their body weight reading might be misleading as they account for low muscle mass .
In conclusion, body scales are not ideal for measuring obesity indicators in children and seniors. They are not made to target a particular group of people and are more geared towards adults. Senior citizens need more assistance getting on and off the scales and may require supervision while using them. Children’s scales are more specific to their body mass index and body fat percentage, and as such, high-end scales like Those found in hospitals or nutritionists etc., should instead be used instead of regular body scales.
Overall, it would be wise to take body-mass index measurements twice yearly with a nutritionist, doctor or a health coach for seniors and children. So, there you have it; when it comes to body scales, it is better not to take any chances with the health and wellbeing of our children and elderly.
