Screen Time Again Linked to Kids’ Extra Weight
November 25th, 2013Shocker.
Via: Reuters:
Children and teenagers who spend lots of time in front of screens – especially TVs – tend to gain more weight as they age, according to a new study.
The findings are consistent with research suggesting all that idle sitting and exposure to advertisements may fuel poor eating habits (see Reuters Health story of May 9, 2012, here:).
Many parents believe their children are getting a reasonable amount of recreational screen time, Mark Tremblay said. But most U.S. and Canadian kids exceed the recommended two-hour maximum per day.
“We don’t pay attention to the fact that it’s half an hour here, half an hour there, an hour here, an hour there,” Tremblay told Reuters Health. He is the director of Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, Canada, and wasn’t involved in the new study.
What about all that idle time sitting at a desk in a state-enforced classroom? Does that lead to obesity too? Or just the same dumbing down of one’s mind.