Less TV, Fewer Videos Help Keep Weight in Check
(NU) - Every day, 8- to 18-year-olds spend, on average, nearly four hours watching TV or videos, more than an hour on the computer and 50 minutes playing video games. That amounts to nearly six hours a day in front of a screen. But health experts warn that too much screen time throws off a person’s energy balance, making it hard to maintain a healthy weight. |
Energy balance is the balance between the amount of calories you burn through physical activity (energy out) and the amount of calories you consume (energy in). Too much energy in without enough energy out is a formula for weight gain.
“To help your family maintain a healthy weight, it’s important to keep energy balance in mind,” said Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity on most days. Cutting back on recreational screen time makes it easier to meet this goal.”
The NIH’s We Can! program provides
the following tips to reduce children’s
time in front of the screen:
• Turn off Saturday morning
cartoons and take your child to a
local recreational center, park or
skating rink.
• Take the TV out of your
child’s bedroom. More than two-thirds
of young children have a
TV in their bedroom.
• Make a family agreement to
limit recreational screen time to
less than two hours a day.
• Encourage every family
member to think of fun activities
to keep moving, such as biking to
school events or training together
for a charity walk.
For a free We Can! parents' handbook and other tools, visit http://wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov or call 866-35-WECAN.
We Can!™ is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
We Can! Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook provides background information on the obesity epidemic and practical tools to help you and your family adopt a healthier lifestyle.
We Can! offers a variety of resources and materials, including a community toolkit, parent handbook, posters, print ads, and wristbands.