Extra Television watching comes with extra pounds on our kids’ waistline

Posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007

“Parents, schools and even health care providers should be thinking more critically about TV watching,” Dr. Fleming-Moran said. “Some doctors have even written prescriptions for their younger patients to reduce their TV watching.”

As prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity is witnessing a sharp increase, researchers are trying to identify the major causes of this epidemic. Two main factors are recognized as the major contributors to this century’s epidemic in the young population:

• Accessibility of high-energy food
• Increased time engaged in sedentary activities such as watching TV and playing video game.

Television viewing is a major activity for children and adolescents. Children in the United States, ages 8 to 18, spend 44.5 hours per week in front of a computer, television, and video game, more time in front of a screen than doing any other activity in their lives except sleeping. It has been estimated that by the time of high school graduation, adolescents will have spent more time watching TV than they have in the classroom.

This is a matter of concern because it has been shown that watching more than two hours of television per day increases adolescents’ chances of being overweight. A study done at Indiana University found that TV watching ALONE added a 50 percent risk of being overweight for high school students.

The question is:
HOW DOES TELEVISION VIEWING AFFECT BODY WEIGHT?
This topic has been one of the highlight themes of the annual North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) meeting in 2004. Television watching was demonstrated to promote teenage obesity by:

• Preventing physical activity
• Promoting unhealthy snacking and consumption of less nutritious meals

Preventing Physical Activity:

Children who use a lot of media have a lower activity level. Watching television will cut down the time expanded doing any other more energy expanding activity.

As Dr. Fleming-Moran Millicent Fleming-Moran, an associate professor Indiana University explains it:

“Watching TV may be the most inactive behavior next to sleeping. When you watch TV you tend to be totally still and may even lie down. Sitting at the computer is not active behavior, but at least you are upright and moving your arms to type or use the mouse.”

Promoting unhealthy snacking and consumption of less nutritious meals:

As for food habits associated with TV watching, current estimates suggest that 20-25% of daily energy is consumed in front of the television. Both children and adults increase their intake of high-calorie foods while watching television.

Two of the mechanisms through which television viewing is thought to promote childhood unhealthy dietary behaviors are:

• Increased dietary intake from eating during viewing
• Eating highly advertised foods

Adolescents who watch more television eat more high-fat foods and fast food, drinks more soft drinks, and consume fewer fruits and vegetables. In addition, in households in which the television is on during meals, children consume more red meat, pizza, snack foods, and soda and fewer fruits and vegetables.

Second, several studies showed that foods, especially high-fat or high-sugar foods, are frequently advertised on children’s television programs. Incorporation of these adds in children or adolescents TV program led to the children choosing the advertised brand of food over an unadvertised product. Since food advertisements during these programs are mainly for high-fat or high-sugar foods, children will end up eating and choosing more from these foods than other more nutritious option.

This information suggests that reducing television exposure has as strong an influence on adolescent obesity levels as increasing exercise and healthier eating.

Given this information and the ongoing spread of childhood obesity and it associated health problems, it is increasingly important to encourage children to become more active and limiting their screen time by encouraging them to a more physically active lifestyle.

Some figures and facts about Television watching and associated weight and food behaviors

Adapted from National Institute on Media and the Family.

• Obesity in children increases the more hours they watch television. These results were reported in a study by researchers at the University at Buffalo, Johns Hopkins University, The National Cancer Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control (Crespo, 2001).
• A more recent study found that children who watch more than three hours of television a day are 50 per cent more likely to be obese than kids who watch fewer than two hours. These researchers conclude that “more than 60% of overweight incidents can be linked to excess TV viewing” (Tremblay, 2003).
• Lack of physical activity is a large contributor to this problem. Physical education, once an important part of every child’s school day, has been cut back at many schools. Less than half of U.S. schoolchildren have access to daily physical education classes (Squires, 1998).
• Children who use a lot of media have a lower activity level which is linked to a higher rate of obesity (Vandewater, 2004).
• In analyzing the data from a national survey between 1988 and 1994, researchers found that the 26% of children who watched four or more hours of television a day had significantly more body fat than those who watched less television. The more time children spent watching television, the greater their weight increase (Andersen, 1998).
• Another study found that 60% of the overweight in children, ages 10-15, may be due to excessive television viewing (Gortmacher, 1996).
• Dietz in his study also found that the incidence of obesity increased by 2% for every additional hour of television watched (Dietz, 1985).
• In another study of preschoolers (ages 1-4), a child’s risk of being overweight increased by 6% for every hour of television watched per day. If that child had a TV in his or her bedroom, the odds of being overweight jumped an additional 31% for every hour watched. Preschool children with TVs in their bedroom watched an additional 4.8 hours of TV or videos every week (Dennison, et al., 2002).
• In related studies on significant health issues, researchers are finding that increased television viewing and subsequent lack of exercise affect children adversely in two areas.
  • Early childhood is a time of tremendous growth for children and the amount of physical activity positively affects the strength and amount of bone mass developed. A study of pre-schoolers found that girls who watched more television measured lower in the amount of hipbone density (Janz, 2001).
  • Another study on the relationship between metabolic rates and television viewing found that metabolic rates during television viewing were significantly lower than during resting periods for a group of obese and normal weight children, ages 8 to 12 years old (Klesges, 1993).
• A study from Stanford University, researching the relationship between television viewing and weight, set out to measure body weight differences between two sets of third and fourth graders. One group was taught how to lessen their time watching television and playing video games. The second group received no such instruction and their TV and video game playing time went on as usual. For the first group, the instruction sought to establish a seven-hour a week limit on television and video game time. This would free up 14 hours to do something else. The results showed that the children who watched less television and played fewer video games had a significant reduction in measures of obesity, such as body mass index. The children who watched their usual amount of television had higher indicators of obesity. The only difference between the two groups was the amount of television and video game playing (Robinson, 1999).

Tips for parents and caregivers for controlling negative effects of television viewing on children:

• Set guidelines for the amount of time your children can spend watching television or playing video games. Watching TV can use less energy than simply sitting and resting! Also, we tend to snack on high calorie foods during these inactive times.
• Substitute the rest of leisure time watching TV with physical activity.
• Plan family activities that involve exercise. Instead of watching TV, go hiking or biking, wash the car, or walk around a mall. Offer choices and let your children decide.
• Eat meals together as a family and eat at the table, not in front of a television. Eat slowly and enjoy the food.
• Remove or avoid having television sets in children’s bedrooms

For more tips go to Helpful Ways to Reduce Screen Time.