By Andrew M. Seaman
NEW YORK Tue Mar 4, 2014 5:12pm EST
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Putting a television in a child's bedroom may be setting them up for excess weight gain over the next few years, suggests a new study.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>Researchers found that children who slept in bedrooms with TVs gained more weight each year over the next few years, than kids without TVs in their rooms.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>"It's well known that screen time is related to weight gain, but we specifically wanted to look at whether televisions in the bedroom are related to weight gain," Diane Gilbert-Diamond told Reuters Health.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>"We hypothesized that they would be because bedroom television may disrupt sleep and there is a known link between sleep disruption and weight gain," she added.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>Gilbert-Diamond is the study's lead author from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>She and her colleagues write in JAMA Pediatrics that it's estimated about a third of U.S. children and teens are overweight or obese. Previous studies have also linked TVs in children's bedrooms to an increased risk of being overweight.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>The authors also note that about 71 percent of adolescents have TVs in their bedrooms.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>"We really hope to help our children get a healthy start in life so that they have the best chance for a healthy future," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>For the new study, she and her colleagues used data collected from an ongoing study of U.S. teens.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>About 6,500 kids between 10 and 14 years old were recruited in 2003 to take a telephone survey. Those children and teens also answered questions two years later and again four years later.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>"This is the first study to look at whether having a bedroom TV led to future weight gain," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>About 59 percent of participants reported having TVs in their bedrooms.
<span id="midArticle_12"/>Overall, the participants who reported having TVs in their bedrooms had larger increases in their body mass index - a measure of weight in relation to height - after two and four years, compared to those who didn't have TVs in the bedroom.
<span id="midArticle_13"/>The difference translates to about one extra pound of weight gain each year among participants with bedroom TVs, Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_14"/>While one additional pound each year may not seem like much, she said those can add up throughout childhood.
<span id="midArticle_15"/>"If a bedroom TV is present from an early age, it could lead to substantial weight gain over the course of childhood," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_0"/>The researchers acknowledge their study cannot say for sure that bedroom TVs lead to sleep problems, which in turn lead eventually to weight gain.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>It might also be that participants with bedroom TVs were exposed to more food advertising than those who didn't have TVs in their bedrooms, for example.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>"In the future, we'd like to explore other media devices - such as laptops, tablets and smart phones - to see if they relate to weight gain and to test whether bedroom media lead to weight gain through disrupted sleep or other mechanisms," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>For parents, she recommends taking the TVs from kids' bedrooms.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>"Unlike other parenting strategies that require persistent monitoring and effort, removing a TV from a child's bedroom is a one-time action," she said.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>SOURCE: bit.ly/1jPhKHA JAMA Pediatrics, online March 3, 2014.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>
NEW YORK Tue Mar 4, 2014 5:12pm EST
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Putting a television in a child's bedroom may be setting them up for excess weight gain over the next few years, suggests a new study.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>Researchers found that children who slept in bedrooms with TVs gained more weight each year over the next few years, than kids without TVs in their rooms.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>"It's well known that screen time is related to weight gain, but we specifically wanted to look at whether televisions in the bedroom are related to weight gain," Diane Gilbert-Diamond told Reuters Health.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>"We hypothesized that they would be because bedroom television may disrupt sleep and there is a known link between sleep disruption and weight gain," she added.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>Gilbert-Diamond is the study's lead author from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>She and her colleagues write in JAMA Pediatrics that it's estimated about a third of U.S. children and teens are overweight or obese. Previous studies have also linked TVs in children's bedrooms to an increased risk of being overweight.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>The authors also note that about 71 percent of adolescents have TVs in their bedrooms.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>"We really hope to help our children get a healthy start in life so that they have the best chance for a healthy future," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>For the new study, she and her colleagues used data collected from an ongoing study of U.S. teens.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>About 6,500 kids between 10 and 14 years old were recruited in 2003 to take a telephone survey. Those children and teens also answered questions two years later and again four years later.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>"This is the first study to look at whether having a bedroom TV led to future weight gain," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>About 59 percent of participants reported having TVs in their bedrooms.
<span id="midArticle_12"/>Overall, the participants who reported having TVs in their bedrooms had larger increases in their body mass index - a measure of weight in relation to height - after two and four years, compared to those who didn't have TVs in the bedroom.
<span id="midArticle_13"/>The difference translates to about one extra pound of weight gain each year among participants with bedroom TVs, Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_14"/>While one additional pound each year may not seem like much, she said those can add up throughout childhood.
<span id="midArticle_15"/>"If a bedroom TV is present from an early age, it could lead to substantial weight gain over the course of childhood," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_0"/>The researchers acknowledge their study cannot say for sure that bedroom TVs lead to sleep problems, which in turn lead eventually to weight gain.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>It might also be that participants with bedroom TVs were exposed to more food advertising than those who didn't have TVs in their bedrooms, for example.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>"In the future, we'd like to explore other media devices - such as laptops, tablets and smart phones - to see if they relate to weight gain and to test whether bedroom media lead to weight gain through disrupted sleep or other mechanisms," Gilbert-Diamond said.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>For parents, she recommends taking the TVs from kids' bedrooms.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>"Unlike other parenting strategies that require persistent monitoring and effort, removing a TV from a child's bedroom is a one-time action," she said.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>SOURCE: bit.ly/1jPhKHA JAMA Pediatrics, online March 3, 2014.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>
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