TV in the bedroom linked to childhood obesity

Preschool children can spend up to 12 hours a day in sedentary time, which can include watching television, playing electronic games and reading. Few preschool children are meeting the current recommendations of less than 1 hour of screen time per day, and are spending large amounts of time engaging in screen time. According to new research, children who have a TV in their bedroom at the age of 7 are more likely to become overweight.

Prof Russell Viner of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, who was not involved in the study, has said that “The study indicates, more research is needed to fully understand this complex area, but this is a high quality study covering a very large and nationally representative sample and provides a reasonably strong basis to think that the links shown here are real….it highlights that having a TV in the bedroom from seven years increases the risk of being overweight four years later, regardless of the child’s weight in earlier childhood. As such, the findings must be taken very seriously.”