Myopia. Fatty liver. Lumbago. High blood pressure due to obesity. Skeletal problems.

Yes, as the petals are plucked from our flower of youth, these are among the multitude of complaints of encroaching middle age. The problem, says Spa (Sept 20-27), is that they're occurring with increasing frequency among young children.

Today's kids, it seems, have been hit by a double whammy. The first is the ongoing march of digitalization; the second, two and a half years of forced stay-ins due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, children's physical development has become stunted.

"Over the past three months, more than half the injuries incurred by kids at our school have been bone fractures," an elementary school teacher in metropolitan Tokyo tells the magazine. ...continue reading