Kids starting to develop breathing problems? Might be time to drag them off the couch and away from Naruto. Researchers say kids who watch more than five hours of TV a day are more likely to develop asthma, according to a story in Britain's Telegraph. Scientists found that the danger of these kids developing asthma was raised by more than half compared with kids who watch just one hour of TV a day.
As I'm reading this, I realize this theory has nothing to do with TV per se, but rather the fact that kids who watch that much TV are Certified Couch Potatoes. That means: 1) They don't get enough exercise; 2) their breathing is shallower than kids who play stick-ball and build forts in the woods; and 3) they eat more junk food, which leads to fatter kids, which is linked with asthma.
The study of 20,000 6- and 7-year-olds, done by the Catholic University in Rome and published in the medical journal Epidemiology, confirmed a strong link with asthma and obesity, but found that salt was the biggest risk (see my note about junk food above). Kids with the highest intake of salt were 2 1/2 more likely to develop asthma.
So why are they picking on TV? Doesn't this also apply to kids who play World of Warcraft on the computer for 18 hours a day? Why, yes, it does. Reading further, the story notes: "Children who played more computer games and watched more television were also found to be less active and had poorer diets." Hmmm, wonder how much cash they doled out to come up with this staggering revelation?
In short, replace the salty chips with fruits and veggies, drag the kids away from screens for a few hours, and start playing tennis with them. Or maybe Jillian Michaels' Wii Fitness Game. Who says screens have to be unhealthy?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-18-2008 @ 5:34PM
Bradley said...
I remember when I was a kid we spent most of our time during the summer outside, and same was true during the school year in the evenings and weekends. In the Summer we played baseball and in the Winter we played football. Don't get me wrong we played NES as well, but generally only when it was raining, extremely hot, or extremely cold. I was diagnosed with asthma when I was about 8 (20 or so years ago). It made it harder for me to play sports, but it didn't stop me.
My point is that there can be other factors. My brother's TV habits matched those described in the article and he's never had any breathing difficulties. I think it's an interesting correlation, but nothing more.
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6-18-2008 @ 7:30PM
SImpression said...
"Sucks to your ass-mar" XD
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6-18-2008 @ 9:20PM
Salem said...
This article is totally pointless... ¬¬
My asthma is induced by phisical exercize... That means as a Kid I HAD to spend a lot of hours watching TV (and playing with toys, and solving puzzles, reading novels, playing chess, drawing, painting, modeling clay, etc.) BECAUSE of the asthma.
Exercize was actually bad for my health (still is) and TV doesn't. But is the parents who should supervise in what kind of activities their kids (asthmathistics or else) engage. I thing some parents have a tendency to drop kids in front of the TV to "solve" other issues...
BTW... Naruto? I hope that NO KID is watching 5 NARUTO hours per day... Please!
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6-19-2008 @ 10:33AM
Alicia said...
What I think is funny... is that is blog [posting was posted a few days ago and no one commented on it. So it was posted again in the hopes that someone would.
And wow imgaine that... your kids watch tv all day they get fat.
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