In a number of previous blogs, I’ve warned you of the risks of too much TV for your kids. Now we have a new and far scarier risk to consider — the development of premature cardiovascular disease .
HealthDay reported, “Young children who spend too much time watching TV or playing computer games have narrower eye arteries than kids who are more physically active,” according to a study published online in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Narrower arteries are a marker of future cardiovascular risk, and the narrower the vessels, the higher the risk,” according to the researchers.
WebMD reported that “the study included close to 1,500 6- and 7-year-olds living in Sydney, Australia. The children’s parents completed questionnaires designed to assess how much time the kids spent watching TV or using other electronic equipment and how much time they spent engaging in physical pursuits.”
In addition, “digital photographs were taken in the back of each child’s eyes to determine the width of the retinal blood vessels.”
This study reinforces the current recommendations that kids should be exposed to no more than 2 hours a day of screen time (TV, computer, internet, video games, cell phone, etc.)
Here are some of my blogs on “screen time” from the last year: