ISLAMABAD: Even a bit of exercise can deliver a mental health boost to obese teenagers, says a new study.

"The first thing I tell teenagers and parents struggling with their weight in my practice is to throw away the scale," said Gary Goldfield, researcher at the Children`s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute.

"These kids face enough challenges with bullying and peer pressure today! This new study is proof positive that even a modest dose of exercise is prescriptive for a mental health boost," Goldfield was quoted in the Journal of Paediatric Psychology.

Being obese at any age is tied with diabetes and chronic fatigue to heart complications.

Overweight adolescents are also at an increased risk of body dissatisfaction, social alienation and low self esteem, according to a Children`s Hospital statement.

Goldfield, also associate professor of paediatrics at University of Ottawa, conducted the study with a group of adolescents aged 12-17 years who were required to undertake lab based sessions of stationary cycling twice weekly to music of their own choice or to an interactive video game for a 10-week trial.

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