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Exercise and Limited TV Time Keeps Kids Trim

Children who regularly exercise and limit their TV time are much less likely to be overweight than their peers, according to a new study.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children devote no more than two hours each day to TV and video games. Experts also encourage children to exercise regularly. One common recommendation is for children and teenagers to get at least one hour of moderate exercise on most or all days of the week.

For the new study, researchers looked at whether there were weight differences between children who met or did not meet recommendations for "screen time" and exercise. They found that, in a group of more than 700 children, those who did not meet either recommendation were three to four times more likely to be overweight.


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Comment on This Article Community Comments (18)
 
 
Posted On Aug 25, 2008
Look, folks! More study results from the Foundation for Publication of the Obvious!

 
Islander
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Islander  
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Reesacat
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Reesacat  
 
Posted On Aug 25, 2008
Funded by our taxes, no doubt...............

 
 
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
from the depths of misty memory, "kill your tv"...didn't people used to say that, lol.....

 
stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
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BeeGirl
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BeeGirl  
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
"I generally find television annoying because I'm a daydreamer and most shows only distract me from the plays being acted in my own mind.  I know a show is good when it outperforms my daydreams and is something I could've never come up with myself, therefore I'm mesmerized.  I like to say I hate television, but when it's good I love it." ~Ed Northstrum



stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
so, in other words, mesmerization thresholds are too low?

lol...remember Network (1976), "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Flash to 2008: "I'm inert as hell; please sir, may I have another?"


BeeGirl
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 4/2008
BeeGirl  
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
I had to sneak in to see Network because I wasn't old enough.. At that age I was more impressed with 'Wizards', lol.
I'm not too easily mesmerized; something has to be unusually clever to catch and hold my attention.


stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
BG was a scofflaw even then.....

 
 
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
When I was a kid our mothers rarely drove us anywhere, not even to school.
We usually walked or biked:  occasionally, if time was an issue and it was over 5 miles, to the beach for instance, we would hitchhike (shhh, don't tell) or take the bus, which still required a lot of walking.
I don't see that anymore.

 
BeeGirl
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stoic
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stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
yup...5 miles, in the snow, uphill both ways - me too!

seriously: there is a public gradeschool right across the street from me. it has no busses. everyday, twice, each kid is trundled in/out in the family car.....


Miss Bliss
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 3/2008
Miss Bliss  
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
Sad to say but young adults have been conditioned into expecting 'instant' results, 'instant' information, and have access to far more 'conveniences' in entertainment than most of us had when we were  09-21years of age.

Unless parent's took a stand and limited access, their children were doomed to grow up 'expecting' life to be easy and fun to be instantly accessible at all times...

...my mother never drove, and my father only used the car on weekends

for grocery shopping ...and picnics.  From an early age my sister's and

I had to find our own way to work and back...we were never driven

anywhere, not even to dentist or doctor's appointments.  Many of our

friend's parents did the same thing back then, and obesity was rarely

seen.

The interpretation of data from a University study I read recently, reveals the reality of a generation of young people who have little idea how to be creatively self sufficient, resourceful, eco sensitive, and self caring towards personal health. 

...Unless a parent (at least one) was home to ensure healthy meals and snacks were made, shut off the boob-tube daily, refused computer games to enter the home, banned cell phone's, and encouraged sport and activity, the issue of childhood obesity was inevitable.....we all know we lead by example.



BeeGirl
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 4/2008
BeeGirl  
 
Posted On Aug 27, 2008
Sweet M - your comment reminded me of how my mother would never tell us how to spell a word, nor would she define them for us, asking instead, "How do you think it's spelled?" or saying "Look it up in the dictionary".
To this day I have to bite my tongue when someone asks me how to spell something, lol.



Aaltrude
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Aaltrude  
 
Posted On Aug 27, 2008
Beegirl - I know from first hand experience that you have to be careful with your approach when you use the "look it up yourself" method as this can discourage inquisitiveness and harm a relationship. I had a boss once who used to do this and the way she would present it made me 1) feel disinclined to ask her more questions and 2) gave me a lack of respect for this person. Later, when I was in the position of being asked questions, my approach to encourage people to "look it up" was to look it up with them and discuss the question being asked rather than just dismissively tell them to do it themselves.


stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 27, 2008
there's only so much inquisitiveness/curiosity in people, distribution-wise...lots in youth (typically)...but a lot of that also dissipates quite rapidly, on its own...usually, something must underlie the need to know for it to continue to exert itself...lacking that underlying motive, life tends to crowd it out...still, allowing the crowding out speaks to prioities...& to pragmatism...& to shortsightedness (redundant)...

its probable that either you have it, or you don't....."look it up yourself" won't transform you from one to the other......


BeeGirl
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BeeGirl  
 
Posted On Aug 27, 2008
LOL, sometimes I have too much curiosity and it gets in the way of life.


Miss Bliss
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Miss Bliss  
 
Posted On Aug 27, 2008
Oh dear, I guess my old standard of making my students look stuff up for themselves rather than 'expect' me to answer every single mumbling question for them, must have materialized between the lines of my comment....lol      It drives me bonkers when they are too undeciplined to look up anything, or to even explore options...but alas that is part of the learning curve!  That is my job, curiousity, dicipline and resourcefulness are not always fully engaged, stoic, it needs to be nurtured.

Ah, but stoic, that inquisitiveness and resourcefulness is what I try to bring out in them.  If you don't know something, or can't find something, or something just isn't making sense, in this profession you MUST learn how to know where to find what it is that you need to solve the puzzle.
There is no room for dissipation. Dissipation of resourcefulness can be the difference between life and death.

Beegirl, my mother was the same way with my sister's and I.  Actually, both my parents were.  Life isn't always going to provide a tidy little answer to my not so tidy questions....

Youth today, from what I have seen and taught, want answer's now, they want them to be effortless, they want them to be easily accessible  and in spades...!!

...but then again, hey, I was exactly like that once myself...lol.

 


stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 27, 2008
SMB, on the one hand it has never been easier to research & find answers, follow threads to wherever they lead, but otoh, attention spans are shorter than ever too...its very interesting to read about time preferences (see here to dip a toe,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_preference  ,but would suggest doing a search at mises.org or rockwell.com to put solid flesh on the bones), & how democracy compresses them (see Hoppe's book - a real eye-opener...). 

 
 
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
Truly amazing....!!
  ..and I was just thinking that a couple of McS... burgers, a can or two of Cola and a doughnut whilst watching some intellectual , unbiased TV for six hours would have made me fit, healthy and slim....
....And we are more intelligent than the rest of the animal kingdom...
..yeh, right.

 
david
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 8/2006
david  
 
 
 
Posted On Aug 26, 2008
The problem is that parents don't want to hear this.  Believe me, limiting tv/game time is something I do, and it's a lot more work than allowing your children full access.

It requires parenting!

I like my neighbor's solution, which is to lock up the game systems during the school week (literally, in a safe).  You can see her children (and teens) outside every single day.

 
paulabob
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 10/2007
paulabob  
 
 
 
 
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