By Gavin Boyle
A study from the American Heart Association revealed that kids and teens who engage in higher screen time have an increased risk of heart diseases that include high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
“We were able to detect a set of blood-metabolite changes, a ‘screen-time fingerprint,’ validating the potential biological impact of screen time behavior,” explained study lead author David Horner, M.D., PhD., a researcher at the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. “Using the same metabolomics data, we also assessed whether screen time was linked to predicted cardiovascular risk in adulthood, finding a positive trend in childhood and a significant association in adolescence. This suggests that screen-related metabolic changes may carry early signals of long-term heart health.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/DNQgOPVsWc7/
Related: Surgeon General Recommends Warning Labels for Social Media
As is the case with most screen-related risks, the higher rate of heart disease is most likely the caused by the lack of physical activities that screen time often replaces. Most of the time, when kids prioritize more time on screens, they spend less time on things which benefit their hearts such as physical activity or sleep.
“In childhood, sleep duration not only moderated this relationship [between screen time and heart health] but also partially explained it: about 12% of the association between screen time and cardiometabolic risk was mediated through shorter sleep duration,” Horner said. “These findings suggest that insufficient sleep may not only magnify the impact of screen time but could be a key pathway linking screen time habits to early metabolic changes.”
Horner and his team suggest that parents do everything in their power to limit their kids’ screen time, as even a couple of hours difference in screen time habits could significantly change the cardiovascular impact of the technology.
“It’s a small change per hour, but when screen time accumulates to three, five or even six hours a day, as we saw in many adolescents, that adds up,” Horner said. “Multiply that across a whole population of children, and you’re looking at a meaningful shift in early cardiometabolic risk that could carry into adulthood.”
As more and more research reveals the impact of high screen time on the youth, experts continue to urge parents to delay their kids’ exposure to devices for as long as possible. Experts now suggest parents wait until their children are at least 13 years old before they have their own device and are allowed to regularly engage with social media.
While studies such as this one provide parents with reasons to keep their kids off of devices, they also equip lawmakers with the data they need when creating bills to regulate the industry. While big tech has been allowed to ruin the health of young users for years, a turning point is finally on its way as parents and kids fight to reclaim everything technology has taken from them.
Read Next: New Study Links Increased Screen Time To Risk Of Heart Disease
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +1Share:
– Content: +4