Up Next: Poor Health?
Watching more than two hours of TV a day as a child may hinder adult health.
A recent study suggests that excessive TV viewing between the ages of 5 and 15 is linked to being overweight, smoking, and having unhealthy cholesterol and fitness levels at age 26. Help ensure your child's future health and fitness by replacing some sedentary TV time with more active entertainment, such as playing games or interacting with family and friends.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting children's TV time to 1 to 2 hours per day. In the first long-term study to look at how childhood television viewing habits affect adult health, researchers studied 1,000 children in New Zealand, assessing their television viewing and health status at regular intervals until age 26. The children who watched more than 2 hours of television a day were more likely to be smokers and to have trouble maintaining a healthy weight and cardiovascular fitness as adults. This link held true regardless of socio-economic status or parental smoking habits. Although the impact of these factors may not be apparent at age 26, if sustained, these are all substantial risk factors for major chronic health problems later on in adulthood. Help your child avoid these risk factors by assessing whether your family has a healthy balance of sedentary screen time and other pastimes. If TV is taking up too much time, set a weekly television budget and have a family brainstorming session to generate ideas for what you could do instead.
Learn if your kids' current habits could spell trouble for their heart health in adulthood.
