Turn off the kid's TV, for a good night's sleep
So we talked about how TV might be a bigger environmental problem than all of the environmental toxins and such that parents tend to worry about these days. Well, here's something else to think about: Sleep. Not getting enough sleep has been linked with obesity in children as young as age 3, according to a recent study from Harvard. When the researchers added excessive TV time into the equation, along with inadequate sleep, the chance of a 3 -year-old child being overweight was 16%.
Excessive television time was defined as more than two hours a day. Elsie Tarveras, the author of the study, urges parents to focus on improving the sleep hygiene of their children, including removing TV, computers and video games from the rooms of children of all ages. Perhaps removing all of the electronics will get kids outside more too?
As the evidence against TV keeps mounting up, we learn more and more benefits of being outside. For more about the benefits of being out in nature, particularly in free activities, see the following Green Daily articles.
It's Energy Independence Day! 
Green Your 4th of July Celebration
The Importance of Pollination - It's Not Just Bee Sex
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-12-2008 @ 9:49AM
Carrie said...
There are a lot of benefits of turning off the TV. April 17-22 is TV Turnoff Week and a lot of families will just keep the thing off forever after that.
http://www.InsteadofTV.com
Reply