Couch-potato kids became couch-potato adults: study

The more television children watched at age 10, the more they watched in middle age, according to a new report that suggests the need for earlier interventions to get kids off the couch.

Over the course of 32 years, researchers from University College London monitored the television-viewing habits of 9,842 people born in 1970 in England, Scotland and Wales, from when they were 10 years old until they were 42. (Reuters Health)

At the start of the study, parents reported whether their 10-year-olds watched TV never, sometimes, or often.

Of the 1,546 participants who reported watching more than three hours of TV a day at age 42, nearly 83 percent had watched television often at age 10, the researchers report in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

This study calculated that people who watched more than 3 hours a day of TV in middle age were more likely to be in fair or poor health.

The study examined the habits of children who were 10 years old in 1980 to more recent habits that technology has created.

Studies have tied increased screen time to a number of problems in children, including excessive weight gain as well as poor sleep and school performance.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children above age two be exposed to no more than two hours of television and computer screens a day, way more than recommended.

There a many studies connecting TV viewing and the risk of many common diseases such as: type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Try to be there for your kids, challenge them to get up and away from screens. For their health and everyone’s happiness!