Smart phones, computers and tablets, Oh My! (part 3)

 

 

By Kerri Kreh Reda, M.P.H.

You may have heard that in this country we have an epidemic of overweight and obese children and adults. One of the contributing factors to this problem is the overuse of screens. Screen time is believed to contribute to weight issues in three ways. First of all, time spent with screens is sedentary; when we are sedentary we burn few calories. In fact, we burn more calories sleeping than we do watching television. The average child spends seven hours a day using one screen or another so that is seven hours of inactivity each day.

In addition to being a sedentary activity, television exposes our children to over 40,000 commercials per year, many of which are for unhealthy foods: leading to poorer meal and snack choices. These commercials are very effective at causing the time honored tradition all parents love: nagging. Marketers know that if children nag their parents often enough, they will purchase the product.

Lastly, television viewing is linked to overweight because of the mindless eating that happens while watching. If our mind is focused on a television show or movie, we are not paying attention to our body’s signals of being full and tend to over eat.

In addition to concerns about weight, there is growing research that links technology use to poor sleep habits. Technology robs us, and our children, of sleep in two ways. We spend a lot of time with our devices, a quick check of e-mail just before bed that we think will take 5 minutes quickly becomes 30 to 40 minutes. Just that easily we lost over a half hour of sleep: over the course of a week that is 3 ½ hours less sleep.

Along with cutting into our 8 hours of sleep (17 hours for infants and 11 for school age children), the exposure to the lights of our devises also interferes with the sleep cycle making it more difficult for some of us to fall asleep and for others more difficult to stay asleep. For these reasons, it is recommended that screen use ends at least one hour prior to bedtime and that devices are not used in the bedroom.

Resources:

National Sleep Foundation Sleep Duration Recommendations

http://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/STREPchanges_1.png

Sleep Duration, Restfulness, and Screens in the Sleep Environment

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2015/01/01/peds.2014-2306.full.pdf+html

Kerri Kreh Reda, M.P.H., is a Human Development Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County’s Family Health and Wellness Program. She can be reached at 631-727-7850 ext. 330 or at kkr5@cornell.edu.