The High Cost of Being a Couch Potato

My second day back in the office after spending the better part of eight days traipsing around the country making presentations. It was exhausting, but despite the fact that I'd rather these trips be spread out a bit more, I'm grateful to have had the chance to "spread the word" to audiences in New Jersey, Arizona, and West Virginia!

It surprises me how many people are still unaware of some of the horrifying statistics concerning today's children, and it occurs to me that I may not have shared them here. But even if I have, they're worth repeating!

Here's some of what I tell my audiences about children and their sedentary lifestyles:

• Studies show that 2- to 5-year-olds are watching 25-1/2 hours of TV per week (and of course there was the recent study that determined children age 8 and up are spending 7-1/2 hours/day with electronic media).
• 40% of 5- to 8-year-olds show at least one heart disease risk factor, including obesity, which is growing at a faster rate among children than among adults, and hypertension. (Should we be using the words "5-year-olds" and "hypertension" in the same sentence?!)
• The first signs of arteriosclerosis (that's hardening of the arteries!) are appearing at age 5. (Previously such risk factors weren't seen in individuals under the age of 30.)
• Six- to 10-year-olds are dying of sudden cardiopulmonary arrest.
• A Centers for Disease Control Study determined that American children born in the year 2000 face a one-in-three chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. (Type 2 diabetes used to be called "adult onset" because it was so rarely seen in children, but it became so prevalent that they had to change the name!)
• This may be the first generation of children not to outlive their parents.

Depressing, huh? But there's good news as well as bad. The bad news is that there are about 300,000 deaths a year in the United States alone due to low levels of activity and fitness. The good news is that they're due to low levels of activity and fitness!

There are a million problems in the world that we feel helpless to do anything about. But this doesn't have to be one of them! This is imminently "fixable." All we've got to do is make sure that children have the time, space, and opportunity to move! They'll do the rest themselves!

By the way, if you want to read a great piece on the importance of physical activity to "successful aging," check out this New York Times article.

Comments

[WendyZ]

"Studies show that 2- to 5-year-olds are watching 25-1/2 hours of TV per week"

I am proud and adament that my 5-year-old daughter goes some weeks and never watches TV at all! She has a "responsibility chart", and she has to earn 60 "points" on the chart in order to choose something to watch (of course we have veto power). Since we cut down her time with techonology more and more, there's been a huge improvement in her behavior. Even with me being in the early childhood field, I had a "duh" moment.

[dental health center]

I agree with wendy, the less TV you see a child more focused and better behaved becomes

[financial spread betting]

These are truely frightening stats. My child is on the way and they won't be watching much tv.