Do the words, portly, rotund or corpulent mean anything to you? These are polite ways of saying that someone is obese. This subject matter is of grave concern for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in regard to our children’s health today. It is their expert opinion that children should not be viewing more than two hours of television a day.
Unfortunately, the typical child in this country watches between 2-3 hours of the "boob tube" a day and numerous kids are given a television for their bedroom. Statistics have verified that in addition to being inactive while glued to the set, they are also engaged in the art of snacking on junk food. Creating healthy habits when you are a child will follow you into your adulthood. In two different articles, The Journal of Pediatrics expounds on the connection between watching television and childhood obesity.
In the study, approximately 8,000 participants at 5, 10, and 30 years of age were evaluated. Their height, weight and number of viewing hours of television were considered. At the age of 5, 40% of the volunteers surpassed The American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidelines. The study found that each added hour of television viewing on the weekends by five year olds that exceeded the AAP’s two hour minimum, increased the probability of obesity in someone 30 years old by 7%.
So, what should we do? Obviously, limiting the number of hours is one answer, and removing the TV from their room is another, but being a role model is more important. For more information on what you can do to help your children, www.tvturnoff.org may offer added help.