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Best veiw with
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Children's TV is Deadly
The dopamine hit is toxic to the mind where TV is the toxin, possibly
affecting melatonin distribution on a permanent bases, and seriously
messing up the mind! And that is only the good news.
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Children's TV is Linked to Cancer, Autism, and Dementia
19 February 2007 - Fergus Sheppard -
News,scotsman.com
*Study shows ill-effects of TV more wide-ranging than
initially thought
*Quantity of TV and age of children viewing key elements of study
*Time in front of computer screens also part of problem
IT
HAS long been blamed for creating a nation of couch potatoes. But a
new report today claims that Britain's love affair with television is
causing far more damage - both physically and psychologically - than
previously thought.
The findings have been compiled by Dr Aric Sigman, a psychologist who
has previously written about the effects of television on the viewer.
His report, analyzing 35 different scientific studies carried out into
television and its effect on the viewer, has identified 15 negative
effects he claims can be blamed on watching television.
Among the most disturbing findings are the links he claims to have
found between long hours of television viewing and cancer, autism and
Alzheimer's.
The effects on children watching TV have been well publicized in
Britain. Fears of a time bomb of obesity have sparked a wave of
ministerial initiatives to promote sport and tackle the couch-potato
lifestyle.
However, today's report suggests the consequences of television are
far more serious. They range from myopia and attention deficit
disorder to diabetes, autism, Alzheimer's and a generation whose
brains are being numbed by on-screen imagery. His report, published in
the respected Biologist magazine, claims the problem with television
lies in the length of time we spend in front of the set. For most
people, watching television now takes up more time than any other
single activity except work and sleep. According to the British
Audience Research Bureau, by the age of 75 the average Briton will
have spent more than 12 years of their life watching television.
Dr Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society
and author of Remotely Controlled: How Television Is Damaging Our
Lives, said arguments over how educational programs were a
distraction. He said: "The medical studies I have looked at are about
the medium of television, irrespective of the programs children are
watching. It is the number of hours and the age at which they start
which produces the biological effects. It is because of the medium,
not the message, that these effects are occurring."
Dr Sigman's research draws from studies by groups including the
American Academy of Paediatrics, Cornell University, Stanford
University Medical Centre, the British Market Research Bureau and
medical publications such as the Lancet and the Journal of Sleep
Research.
The stage for the harm Dr Sigman believes television is doing is being
set, he claims, by the vast amounts of it we watch - by the age of
six, a child will already have spent one year in front of the
television. When time in front of a computer is added, the
psychologist claims watching a screen of some kind is the dominant
activity for older children - those aged 11 to 15 now spend 55 per
cent of their waking lives, or seven and a half hours a day, watching
television and computers. According to today's report, that represents
a 40 per cent rise in a decade.
Dr Sigman claims the battery of ill effects takes its toll on both
body and mind. He claims the effect on the brain is not stimulating,
but almost narcotic, numbing the areas of the brain stimulated by, for
example, reading.
The influence of modern editing techniques - for example the rapid
"jump cuts" - also plays its part. Attention spans fracture while at
the same time, according to Dr Sigman, the brain is programmed to
reward itself with the neurotransmitter dopamine for being able to
cope with an onslaught of novelty on screen. The litany of bodily ills
Dr Sigman links to television makes for equally bleak reading. He
associates it not only with obesity, but Alzheimer's, diabetes and
even the breakdown of cells capable of healing wounds. Dr Sigman
claims a significant body of research now points to television as a
key factor in reducing levels of the hormone melatonin, the substance
that regulates the body's internal clock and also governs the speed at
which puberty develops.
Melatonin is produced at night and induces feelings of sleepiness.
However, today's report suggests the bright light emitted by
television screens may play a part in suppressing melatonin levels in
the blood.
That syndrome may explain that adolescents who are glued to the
television are tired out by more than watching late-night programmes.
The other crucial issue thrown up by melatonin, Dr Sigman says, is its
link to puberty. The hormone also plays a key role in governing the
onset of puberty, and its suppression may be paving the way for a
generation of children to experience ever-earlier entries into
adolescence.
That tendency can be traced back to the 1950s, according to the
report, when television itself became a mass medium.
While the mass of research indexed by Dr Sigman goes heavily into
physiology and biology, one conclusion may be more recognisable to
general critics of TV - the suggestion that daytime TV and soaps
virtually rot the brain. "The content of television - soap operas and
talk shows - is also associated with poorer cognition in older women,
including clinically significant cognitive impairment in attention,
memory and psychomotor speed [reaction time]," he said.
Dr Sigman last night said the youngest children should be banned from
watching TV at all, and introduced to it "judiciously" after that.
He added: "To allow children to continue to watch this much screen
media is an abdication of parental responsibility - truly hands-off
parenting."
In a reference to the crusade by celebrity TV chef Jamie Oliver, the
academic added: "While society has shown alarm over school dinners, it
has ignored the high-screen diet children have been consuming."
However, other critics last night suggested that not all time spent
before a screen was bad.
Adrian Monck, a professor of journalism and media analyst at City
University in London, said: "I certainly think the idea of banning
young children from watching television is impractical.
"Television is part of growing up and what we need to be aware of is
how children use that. Television, like everything, is something you
have to take with a pinch of salt - I certainly think there is a good
case for parents not using it as a substitute carer."
Pat Kane, a broadcaster and writer, said he also disagreed with
"parking children in front of television or DVDs without some element
of monitoring or even participation in the narrative".
However, Mr Kane cited programs such as CBBC's Tracy Beaker - which
is based on Jacqueline Wilson's novel about child in care - as a
"fabulous" way of showing that "some children are facing problems with
parents, lifestyle and economics".
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OBESITY
TELEVISION viewing is directly related to and now considered an
independent cause of obesity. Sitting in front of a screen commands an
increasingly large part of children's lives and, Dr Sigman believes,
has replaced physical activity for many. Inactivity can also overlap
with poor diet.
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HEALING
TELEVISION may be involved in alterations in the activity, size and
consistency of skin immune cells. It may lead to an increase in the
migration of "cutaneous immune system mast cells", parts of body
tissue that play a key role in healing wounds and offering defence
against disease.
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HEART TROUBLE
TELEVISION can set the conditions for long-term cardiovascular
illness, some research claims. The adult risk of raised cholesterol
and the potential for heart disease is strongly linked to TV viewing
habits formed in childhood and teenage years, setting up a store of
problems for later life.
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METABOLISM
A SIGNIFICANT relationship was found in which the metabolic rate
decreased as average weekly hours of television viewing increased.
Lowered metabolism leads to a reduced ability to burn fat. Combined
with high-calorie food and drinks, it sets the stage for obesity and
other health issues.
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EYESIGHT
PERMANENT eyesight damage previously attributed to genetics is now
being strongly linked to television-screen exposure. TV screens, or
indeed computer screens, are blamed for a rising incidence of myopia
as they demand long periods of fixed attention from the viewer.
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ALZHEIMER'S
TELEVISION viewing between ages 20 to 60 is associated with the
development of Alzheimer's disease: for each additional daily hour of
television viewing, the associated risk of Alzheimer's disease
development increases. Attention, memory and reaction time may also be
affected.
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ATTENTION SPAN
LONG periods of TV viewing may affect what are called the "neuronal
mechanisms" behind attention and impulse control. This means damaging
brain-cell development and the person's ability to concentrate on
non-TV subjects. For children this could mean learning difficulties
and attention disorders.
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HORMONES
WATCHING television suppresses production of melatonin, a key hormone
and powerful antioxidant that has important roles in the immune
system, sleep/wake cycle and the onset of puberty. Melatonin regulates
the body's internal clock but bright screens may interrupt production.
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CANCER
REDUCED levels of melatonin may also result, Dr Sigman suggests, in a
greater chance that cell DNA will produce cancer-causing mutations.
Some doctors have speculated on a link between sleeplessness and
cancer, which one expert suggested formed a "pathway from stress to
disease".
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EARLY PUBERTY
EXPOSURE to TV screens affects the melatonin levels of younger
children, in particular at the onset of puberty. Girls are reaching
puberty much earlier than in the 1950s, a fact critics of TV put down
to reduced levels of melatonin. Animal studies link low melatonin
levels to early puberty.
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AUTISM
EARLY childhood television viewing may be an important factor in
autism, which currently affects one in every 166 children. Dr Sigman
quotes Cornell University, which last year published research
suggesting television may be a trigger in young children with a
tendency to the condition.
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SLEEP
A SIGNIFICANT relationship was found between exposure to television
and sleeping difficulties in different age groups ranging from infants
to adults. Television viewing among infants and young children is
independently associated with irregular sleep schedules.HUNGER
THE lack of sleep ascribed to the effects of watching TV may directly
increase appetite and body-fat production. Research suggests it could
do this through alterations in the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which
regulate feelings of being full and of hunger respectively.
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BRAIN GROWTH
EVEN interactive media such as computer games have been associated
with limited neurological activity. Watching television has been found
by neuroscientists to be a "non-intellectually stimulating activity"
for brain development. This was not found to be the case for reading.
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DIABETES
DR SIGMAN'S report suggests TV viewing is directly related to and
significantly raises the risk of abnormal glucose metabolism and new
Type-two diabetes. This is linked to side-effects of a sedentary
lifestyle and the kind of diet that can go with heavy TV watching,
such as sweets and sugary drinks.
Bright light from sets may suppress sleep hormone
MELATONIN is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain and
plays a key role in regulating the body's internal clock.
The body manufactures it at night and rising levels of melatonin in
the blood have the effect of inducing sleep.
One possibility is that the bright light given off by a television set
suppresses the release of melatonin. If true, this action would
suggest TV has a role in disrupting the sleep/wake cycle beyond the
viewer merely staying up late to watch a particular program.
Television's suppressive effect on melatonin in the human body is also
believed by some researchers to explain ever-earlier instances of
puberty in the western world. Since the 1950s, puberty has been
spotted at increasingly early ages, a syndrome some claim stems from
the arrival of TV. 'I'd rather go out and play than watch telly'
SAOIRSE Woolley has bucked the trend for children to spend hours glued
to a TV screen.
She admitted she enjoys CBBC but said she'd rather be outside than
watching television and doesn't even want a TV in her bedroom.
The bright and articulate ten-year-old, visiting Dynamic Earth in
Edinburgh with father Chris, said: "I don't really watch TV that
often. I like to read and I like to go out and do things."
Mr Woolley, 54, a jeweller from North Berwick, said he was surprised
by the findings - particularly the statistics on how long the average
child spends in front of the TV.
Kenny Notman said his two daughters' viewing time was rationed because
it took time away from family activities.
The 42-year-old human resources manager from Edinburgh said he and his
wife both worked, so family time was precious.
But he said he had no objection to Hayley, 13, and Anna, five, having
a TV in their bedrooms. He added: "It's not the TV itself which is the
problem, it's the parents who allow their children to watch too much
of it."
And Anna added: "I do like the Tweenies, but I'd rather go out and
play."
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The
The
Labors in the Spirits of
Science
Living on the Lost Planet 
