Longer Screen Time Can Put Kids At Higher Risk For Diabetes

A new study published in the British Medical Journal’s Archives of Childhood Disease says that longer screen time can increase the risk of children to develop diabetes. The study discovered that kids who spent more than 3 hours on the computer or mobile devices showed higher probability of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The study shows that kids who had longer screen times were observed to have more body fat and show signs of insulin resistance. This came out of studying around 4,500 kids between the ages of 9 and 10,

Longer Screen Time Equals Less Physical Activity For Kids

According to a report in The Guardian, the study does not claim that longer screen time itself can cause diabetes. Rather, it has to do with the health habits they develop. This then affects their future health conditions.

One of the study’s authors, Claire Nightingale, said that it indicated what kind of lifestyle the kids are introduced to and its impact on their health. She said, “Screen time could be capturing something about your behaviours – how much sedentary time you have and how much you break that up [or] what your dietary habits [are], potentially.”

Shorten Screen Time And Increase Physical Activity

The association with the amount of screen time and higher risk of Type 2 diabetes has already been observed among adults. It further looked into a similar pattern among kids. They found it among 9-10 year olds residing in the United Kingdom.

Researchers surveyed 4,500 kids. Eighteen percent reported they watched TV, played on the computer or used their mobile devices for three hours of more. This group of kids got higher scores in different body fat measures. They also showed higher insulin levels after fasting. Furthermore, higher levels of insulin resistance and higher levels of leptin, a hormone that helped control appetite. All of these are considered to be risk factors for diabetes.

The Guardian report quoted Diabetes UK Head of Care Dan Howarth. He said “encouraging physical activity over a sedentary lifestyle, such as that relating to screen time, and a healthy balanced diet clearly plays a significant part” in breaking this alarming trend.