We all know that sitting in front of the “boob tube” for hours on end isn’t really good for you. But can watching television actually make you sick — or increase your risk of developing chronic illnesses such as asthma? A new British study has taken a look at the connection between frequent TV watching and illness in children; and the study’s findings are causing health experts the world over to sit up and take notice.
According to the research, younger children who watch at least two hours of television daily have double the risk of developing asthma than children who are not frequent TV viewers.
But in all fairness to television, the researchers say that it’s not the TV itself that is making the children sick; but rather, it’s the sedentary lifestyle that frequent TV viewing encourages which may be at the root of children’s health issues like asthma.
The British study, published in the journal “Thorax,” and reported on the BBC web site, raises provocative questions about the connection between lifestyle and disease. The research followed the TV viewing habits of more than 3000 children in the UK, ranging in age from infants to 11 years.
The children’s parents were also questioned as part of the study, and in particular, they were asked if their children exhibited any common asthma symptoms, such as shortness of breath or wheezing.
Parents were also asked to describe their children’s daily television “intake,” to determine if there were actually correlations between sitting longer in front of the TV, and developing asthma. The results of the study demonstrated that children who spent two hours or more watching television on average, had a double the risk of being diagnosed with asthma.
In fact, the study showed that among the children surveyed who develop asthma, only 2% rarely or never watched television, while more than 44% of the asthma sufferers reported watching more than two hours of TV each day.
Researchers believe that children are especially sensitive to “airway responsiveness” at an early age; and children who get more exercise and fresh air may increase this responsiveness and avoid developing asthma.
While the study is certainly interesting, to many parents its findings are not all that surprising — and may just amount to common sense. Most parents intuitively understand that children need to get out in the fresh air, play and exercise in order to develop in a healthy way. The television in itself may not be the problem, but the passive lifestyle of many frequent TV watchers certainly is.
