TV in kid’s rooms: bad for their health

September 2, 2008 - 2:35 PM by

When my husband and I started planning our house many years ago, the architect urged us to put outlets for TV in every bedroom.

“No way,” I told him. “The kids (we actually only had one at that time), aren’t having TV in their rooms and neither are we,” I added, looking at my husband who tends to fall asleep on the sofa the moment the TV goes on.

”Bedroom

I never regretted that decision, and neither did my husband, despite occasional requests from the boys. The children can watch TV in the family room when they want to, and their rooms remain a place of imagination and rest, where they can build camps, leap on beds, and seek refuge from annoying brothers or scary cartoons. When they go to bed at night, there are no temptations to watch TV until they fall asleep. Instead we read to them, or – if we can persuade them – they read alone.

Now there’s even more justification for this decision, especially as my boys move towards their teenage years. New University of Haifa research has confirmed that putting a TV in a teenager’s room is bad for their health.

A study of 444 middle-school pupils showed that youngsters with a TV in their rooms eat more and sleep less than those without.

According to a report in the Jpost today, the average bedtime of those studied was 23.04pm, and the average they slept was seven hours and 41 minutes. On weekends, the average bedtime was 1.45am (Isn’t that a bit late, or am I in for a shock?), and the average sleeping time was nine hours and 45 minutes. Teens with personal TVs, however, went to sleep half an hour later, but woke up at the same time, and on average more TV during the week.

A fifth of pupils said they ate in front of the TV on a regular basis, while 70 percent said they did so occasionally. The more the teenagers are exposed to TV, the more they eat in front of it, the study indicated. Previous studies show that eating in front of the TV increases calorie intake and the risk of obesity in children and adults.

So. The next time one of my kids asks for a TV in their room, I’ll be able to say: “Sorry darling, it’s bad for your health.”

Tags: , , , • Category: Food, General, Life, Pop Culture 

Comments

Leave a Comment





© 2012 ISRAELITY | Site by illuminea | Sitemap