Want your chidren to be healthy? Turn TV off!

A new study shows, that chidren watching less television grow up into healthier adults.

Researchers studied 1000 subjects who were born in Dunedin in the early 1970s and followed at regular intervals until 26 years of age. Television viewing was assessed with interviews conducted at 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 21 years of age.

Television viewing between the ages of 5 and 15 years increased the risk of high cholesterol levels, smoking, poor fitness, and being overweight in adulthood. In contrast, such viewing had no effect on the risk of high blood pressure.

Study head Dr Bob Hancox said the Dunedin subjects grew up in the 1970s and 80s when New Zealand had only two television channels and most homes had only one TV set, quotes New Zealand News.

Today, children have access to scores of satellite channels, games, videos, DVD and the internet.

The health effects of television viewing could not be explained by any other factors, such as family habits or socio-economic status.

In the end it'd be good to cite the words of the Pope John Paul II: "Parents who make regular, prolonged use of television as a kind of electronic baby sitter surrender their role as the primary educators of their children." (wordbytes.org)