Children who spend fewer hours in the front of TV and computer and exercise regularly are less likely to be overweight than their counterparts. To examine the combined influence of physical activity and screen time on the risks of being overweight, researchers from Australia followed 709 children, aged between 7 and 12 years. The researchers noted the time these children spent daily while watching TV and playing video games on the computer. Each child was made to wear a pedometer, or step counter, for at least four days in order to gauge his or her typical physical activity level. Boys who took at least 13,000 steps per day were considered to be in line with exercise recommendations, as were girls who logged 11,000 or more steps. The researchers found that those children who did not get at least one hour of moderate exercise on most, if not all days of the week and devoted more than two hours per day to watching TV and playing video games were three to four times more likely to be overweight than their peers. The increased risk of being overweight among non-exercising girls was 35 percent and among boys, 40 percent. These findings show that screen time and exercise each are independently associated with the risks of a child being overweight.
Journal of Pediatrics
August 2008