Posted on 06/09/2017
Seventy-one per cent of children between the ages of 8 and 18 have televisions in their bedrooms. But is it a good idea? Let's take a look at what we're learning about how having a TV in your child's bedroom can impact their health. Of course, there are the tipping-related physical injuries that TVs can help cause (and that's no small issue, by the way!), but we all know that health extends beyond such injuries. A TV in your child's room can increase his or her risk level for obesity, negatively impact educational achievement, and even lead to trouble sleeping — among other things.
TVs and Obesity
According to a 2012 study, not only does the incidence of obesity increase with each hour of TV a child watches in a day, but having a television in a child's bedroom was proven to impact a child's weight to a greater degree than any other single factor, including race, age, and socioeconomic status. That's pretty significant. Now, we all know that weight isn't the only factor, when it comes to physical health; BMI only tells part of the story. Did you know that children with TVs in their rooms are also more likely than their peers without TVs to eat fast food and drink sugary drinks? They're also less likely to participate in family meals. While causation may not be clear, a definite relationship exists between unhealthy eating habits and kids with TVs in their rooms.
TVs and Educational Achievement
Did you know that kids who have TVs in their rooms score lower on standardized tests? Ironically, the disparity of 7 to 9 points below peers without bedroom TVs was consistent, despite time spent on homework, on a typical night. In fact, the relationship between time spent doing homework and standardized test scores is quite ironic: kids with TVs in their rooms were actually found to spend more time on homework than did their TV-free peers. Our guess is that at least part of the reason for this connection is that for kids with TVs in their rooms, television viewing has eclipsed reading (and other activities that require more thinking skills) as their primary entertainment. Of course, kids often follow their parental examples, and sometimes we make the mistake of treating books like vegetables.
TVs and Healthy Sleep
While the exact reason for the connection remains unclear, the fact remains that kids with TVs in their rooms are less likely to get healthy sleep than other kids of the same age. Perhaps part of the equation is that parents are less likely to enforce set bedtimes and viewing restrictions. Another part may be less adult supervision of shows with scary content, which is likely to cause anxiety or nightmares. Yet another way that TV affects sleep is tied to melatonin production, which the body naturally produces in response to darkness (and is therefore decreased due to evening screen time).
Kids with excessive tablet time are being affected in ways similar to kids with excessive TV time. Studies are in progress right now to gauge the influence of too much tablet and smartphone screen time on kids, and the early feedback is alarming, to say the least. Parents - think twice before letting your child immerse himself or herself in too much screen time!
The Bedroom Source
Located near the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, The Bedroom Source is your source for the best collection of children's and teen bedroom furniture. From flexibly configurable Maxtrix furniture to fashionable Smartstuff collections, The Bedroom Source offers high end furniture and professional design assistance to create the bedroom of your child's dreams.
Contact the friendly staff at The Bedroom Source by calling (516) 248-0600 or by submitting our online contact form. We're a local family owned mom & pop store. When you shop with us, you're dealing directly with the owners. We professionally assemble everything we sell. We deliver to Nassau, Suffolk, the 5 Boroughs, Southern Westchester, Southwestern Connecticut & Northern New Jersey.