Confirming what is generally known -- that excessive TV viewing is bad for children -- a Norwegian study has found that every additional hour of viewing increases the blood sugar level in children with type 1 diabetes. It does not require rocket science to show the connection between a lack of exercise thanks to television viewing and increase in sugar levels . The researchers studied the TV viewing habits as also computer-use of 538 children with type 1 diabetes. The average age of the child studied was 13. It was seen clearly that the HbA1c levels kept increasing with more number of viewing hours. The study appeared in Diabetes Care.
Studies done earlier have shown a link between TV viewing and attention problems in children. Television exposure in children aged 1-3 years seem to lead to attention problems at age 7. Each hour of TV watched increased this risk by almost 10 per cent at age 7. One of the suggestions had been to limit exposure to TV during the early formative years of brain development. Studies have been done in India which clearly dispelled a popular myth that continues to propogate itself - that, television viewing makes children more intelligent. It has revealed that it can instead lead to obesity, behavioural dysfunction, epilepsy and fatigue. Other disorders reported were headache, sleeplessness, apathy and general weakness, something which can easily be recognised in most children with the habit of TV viewing. Other studies have shown that too much TV viewing can result in violent and aggressive behaviour, poor school performance, drug or alcohol use, etc.
In our country, parents have not yet woken up to the prevalence of childhood diabetes and the need to check blood sugar in children. A sedentary lifestyle where the parents are too tired to encourage any physical activity means that children end up in front of the TV set, sometimes for hours together. Often parents use the television as a baby sitter with smaller children so that they can get their housework done in peace. Shrinking open spaces have abetted the plot. No doubt, there are educational programmes on the TV but chances are that these are not as popular as the mindless cartoon channels which are a big hit. There is no other recourse but to limit viewing time and provide children with more interesting choices.