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tv hastens puberty
28. Jun 2004 at 03:45
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Shocked Shocked

Scientists say watching TV hastens puberty

Study finds it is a matter of light and radiation

John Hooper in Rome

Monday June 28, 2004

The Guardian

Does watching television bring on early puberty? Many parents would not doubt that repeated exposure to Sex and the City or the kind of sensual variety shows common on Italian TV could as easily turn their daughters into Lolitas as stir up the latent testosterone in their sons.

But researchers from Florence University have come up with an alternative explanation: watching screens, regardless of the subject matter, helps to advance adolescence.

A study carried out last month in the Tuscan town of Cavriglia detected a huge increase in production of the hormone melatonin in children deprived of TV, computers and video.

Among the functions ascribed to melatonin is that of slowing down the progress of children to sexual maturity.

Roberto Salti said: "We may thus be able to explain a phenomenon of recent years, which is the bringing forward of puberty in young children."

Vast amounts of research have been conducted to the effect of television on children. But most has focused on the psychological, rather than physiological, effects.

"In our study television does not feature, as it does in other scientific studies, as a source of strong emotions, capable of unleashing emotive reactions that contribute to development," said Roberto Tarquini, another member of the team. "For us, it is just a source of light and radiation."

The researchers studied 74 children aged between six and 12 who normally watched television for an average of three hours a day. In the week preceding the experiment they were encouraged to do so a bit more.

They were then deprived of TV, computers and video games for seven days. In addition, their families were asked to use less artificial light.

At the end of the period the children's melatonin levels had risen by an average of 30%. The increases were particularly marked in the youngest children.

Alessandra Graziottin, director of the Centre for Gynaecology and Medical Sexology in Milan and a former president of the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health, said the results were "very interesting and plausible".

She told the newspaper La Repubblica: "Studies in the US have shown that the greater the exposure to television the greater the number of early sexual experiences, including teen pregnancies."

Melatonin is known to have an influence on sleep patterns. But whether it also determines the onset of puberty is still a subject of research and debate. The Florence University scientists said they were planning a joint study with US researchers aimed at putting an end to the uncertainty.

Dr Graziottin said the results could also help to explain another phenomenon of recent years. "Sleep disturbances, nightmares, difficulty in getting to sleep and so on, are ever more common among children. Melatonin has a role in this area too and it is quite possible there is a link with exposure to television."

Setting up the experiment had not been easy, Mr Tarquini said. "Some of the parents and grandparents were frightened. They didn't know how they were going to keep the children occupied without television."

Some of the younger children were reported to have cried when their TV was removed, but the mayor of Cavriglia, Enzo Brogi, presented each child with a book and board game, which seems to have helped.

Parents organised card games, ball games and fishing expeditions. They encouraged their children to listen more to the radio and arranged a collective reading of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. The experiment ended on May 16 with a midnight ceremony in which the mayor symbolically smashed a television set in the town square.

The Ansa news agency quoted one of the children as saying seven days was not enough for all the activities that had been planned.

However, La Repubblica reported that the activities also included simulations of well-known TV quiz shows


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Re: tv hastens puberty
Reply #1 - 28. Jun 2004 at 08:27
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Gosh they do some strange studies...  I find this one a bit hard to believe. I suppose if it's true then to keep kids physically younger we should limit their TV viewing.  Smiley

I wonder if that includes computer watching and video game playing as well?
  
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Re: tv hastens puberty
Reply #2 - 10. Jul 2004 at 09:43
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myopia too. Shocked
-----------
Lifestyle causes myopia, not genes

16:07 08 July 04
 
Contrary to popular belief, people in east Asia are no more genetically susceptible to short-sightedness than any other population group, according to researchers who have analysed past studies of the problem.

The epidemics of myopia in countries such as Singapore and Japan are due solely to changes in lifestyle, they say, and similar levels could soon be seen in many western countries as lifestyles there continue to change.

"As kids spend more time indoors, on computers or watching telly, we are going to become just as myopic," says Ian Morgan of the Australian National University in Canberra.

Myopia is on the increase in most places, but in countries such as Singapore it has reached extraordinary levels. There, 80 per cent of 18-year-old male army recruits are myopic, up from 25 per cent just 30 years ago.

Employers such as the police are having problems finding people who meet their requirements. There is also an increasing incidence of extreme myopia, which can lead to blindness.

There is little doubt about at least one underlying cause. Children now spend much of their time focusing on close objects, such as books and computers. To compensate the eyeball is thought to grow longer. That way less effort is needed to focus up close, but the elongated eye can no longer focus on distant objects.

The argument is about why the rate of myopia is so much higher in east Asia than elsewhere. The conventional view is that people from the region have genetic variations that make them more susceptible. But after reviewing over 40 studies, Morgan and Kathryn Rose of the University of Sydney argue that there is no evidence to support this.

The pair, whose work will be published in Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, use several lines of evidence to debunk the idea that genes can explain the Asian epidemics. For instance, 70 per cent of 18-year-old men of Indian origin living in Singapore have myopia, while in India itself the rate is roughly 10 per cent.

Another study found myopia rates of 80 per cent in 14 to 18-year-old boys studying in schools in Israel that emphasise reading religious texts. The rate for boys in state schools was just 30 per cent.

"The simplest explanation is that you have a massive environmental effect that is swamping out the genetic influence," says Morgan. In other words, given the wrong lifestyle, everyone is susceptible to myopia.

And it looks as if those lifestyle changes are beginning to be felt in some western countries too. In Sweden, for instance, 50 per cent of children aged 12 now have myopia. It is expected that when these children reach 18 the rate will be more than 70 per cent.

"It is an impressive piece of work," says Karla Zadnik of Ohio State University College of Optometry in Columbus. But if the increase really is due to too much reading, she points out, then lenses that eliminate the stress of focusing on near work should help stop myopia getting any worse. In fact, studies show the lenses are of little help.

But that might be because we have not identified all the lifestyle factors involved, including ones that protect against myopia, says Morgan. For example, children who read less also tend to spend more time outdoors, where better light may reduce the need to focus precisely for near vision. Studies show that children who play sport are less susceptible to myopia.

One group of researchers has even proposed that diet is one of the factors contributing to the rise in myopia. They argue that eating too much refined starch affects the growth of the eyeball (New Scientist print edition, 6 April 2002).

But even if there are no big differences between population groups, genetic studies are important, says Christopher Hammond of St Thomas' Hospital in London. There might be some people whose vision remains perfect whatever their lifestyle.

"If we can identify the genes involved, we have a better chance of understanding the mechanisms involved and developing treatments," he points out.

In a study of 506 pairs of twins, Hammond found that when you take environment out of the equation, genes account for 87 per cent of the variation in short and long-sightedness. The team has identified several genes that may be involved, including PAX-6, which is known to be important in the development of the eye.

Journal reference: The American Journal of Human Genetics (vol 75, p 294)

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Re: tv hastens puberty
Reply #3 - 17. Jul 2004 at 11:37
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danger!
-------
Thursday, 15 July, 2004, 23:20 GMT 00:20 UK 

Cut kids' TV 'to protect health'

A Lancet study found adults who had been avid TV watchers as children were more likely be overweight, to smoke and to have high cholesterol.

Researchers from the University of Otago, New Zealand, said parents should 'lead by example' and turn the TV off.

Other experts said the study bolstered the argument for banning junk food ads during children's programmes.

Sedentary behaviour should be a cause for concern, but we should sound a note of caution about looking for a single factor behind it

The researchers followed 1,000 children born in 1972 and 1973 from the ages of three up to the age of 26.

Every two to three years, they interviewed their parents, then in adolescence the children themselves, to see how much TV they watched each day.

When the study participants were 26, the researchers assessed their adult health.

They checked blood pressure and cholesterol levels, participants' height, how fit they were, whether they smoked and their body mass index (BMI) - which indicates whether a person is a healthy or unhealthy weight.

It was found watching more than two hours of TV a day as children and teenagers was linked with an increased risk of being overweight, smoking and having poor cardiovascular fitness - a measure of how well the heart is working.

It was found 17% of weight problems, 15% of raised blood cholesterol, 17% of smoking and 15% of poor cardiovascular fitness could be linked to excessive TV viewing in childhood and adolescence.

However no link was found between TV and blood pressure.

The associations remained after adjustment for factors such as social background, BMI at age five, parents' BMI, parental smoking, and physical activity at 15 years old.

Dr Robert Hancox, who led the study, said: "Although the adult health indicators that we have found to be associated with child and adolescent television viewing are unlikely to result in clinical health problems by the age of 26 years, they are well established risk factors for cardiovascular illness and death later in life.

"Our results suggest that excessive television viewing in young people is likely to have far-reaching consequences for adult health."

He said he backed American Academy of Pediatrics calls for parents to limit children's viewing to one to two hours per day.

Dr Hancox added: "In fact, data suggest that less than one hour a day would be even better."
He said that it may be difficult for some parents to impose such a regime and would need a lot of support and encouragement.

But he added: "Adults are likely to obtain health benefits themselves if they lead by example and turn off the television.

"We believe that reducing television viewing should become a population health priority."

In an accompanying article in The Lancet, Dr David Ludwig, from Boston's Children's' Hospital, said: "Measures to limit television viewing in childhood and ban food advertisements aimed at children are warranted, before another generation is programmed to become obese."

A spokeswoman for CBBC, which broadcasts children's TV programmes for six to 12-year-olds, said average children's television viewing in the UK had fallen from 166 minutes a day in 2001 to 154 minutes in the first three months of this year.

She said: "It's perhaps too simplistic to point the finger at TV viewing. There may be far more complex reasons why children sit around at home more and take too little exercise, for instance the fact that we live in a risk-averse society."

She added children cycled much less than they did 20 years ago and spent more time using computers.

"Sedentary behaviour should be a cause for concern, but we should sound a note of caution about looking for a single factor behind it."

June Davison, Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation said: "Children should participate in at least one hour of moderate intensity physical activity a day.

"However, only around two thirds of children aged two to15 in England reach even this minimum level. If this trend continues, problems like coronary heart disease will occur in even younger patients."

She added: "This study highlights that it is never too early for parents to encourage their children to adopt a healthy lifestyle."

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Re: tv hastens puberty
Reply #4 - 20. Jul 2004 at 07:09
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Sounds reasonable to me.

IMO, schools need to become much more involved in promoting regular physical exercise. In recent years there has been a growing trend for many schools to shy away from sport, particularly in primary schools which are populated almost exclusively by female teachers. They often know little about sport and many of them are obese and quite unsuitable role models.
  
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tv - doom and gloom
Reply #5 - 22. Dec 2005 at 07:06
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Remotely Controlled.

by Aric Sigman

The figures are frightening: Britons currently spend an average of four hours a day watching television – that’s more than a 24-hour day per week.

Television has become our national obsession: it is our main source of common experience; it affects the way we think and act and, according to psychologist and broadcaster Dr Aric Sigman, its hold over our lives is so significant that in some families, the television has greater influence over children than parents do.

In this insightful and shockingly perceptive assessment of our nation’s relationship with the small screen, Dr Aric Sigman reveals for the first time the alarming reality of what television is actually doing to us physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially.

He provides evidence as to how television contributes to the rising global obesity rate by actually slowing our metabolic rate; stunts our children’s brain development; and is responsible for over half of all rapes and murders in the industrialised world.

Yet Remotely Controlled is much more than an indictment of the dangers of watching television. Sigman aims to draw our awareness to the glaring imbalance in our lives and show us how we can re-establish control away from the remote control.

He explores how exposure to greenery can counter the harmful effects of the screen and how replacing TV time with family and friend time will lead to happier, fuller and above all healthier lives. This book is a compelling read which will cause us all to take a step back and reassess our viewing habits.

Vermilion • RRP £9.99 • Paperback
Publication date: 06/10/2005 • 368 pages • Demy Octavo • ISBN: 0091902606


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Re: tv hastens puberty
Reply #6 - 22. Jan 2006 at 10:29
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A confounding effect to the melotonin-hypothesis may be a caloric-intake hypothesis. People often snack while watching TV or playing video games. My current biology read is "Patterns of Human Growth" (Barry Bogin, Cambridge University Press, 1999). In this book evidence is presented which shows that onset of puberty is directly related to caloric intake. I'm sure in the melotonin-hypothesis study report this is discussed, but not having read the original study, it's hard for me to know this for sure. The melotnin-hypothesis is interesting and I will make a mental note of that one! I'm sure there are many other environmental factors relating to onset of puberty and so, obviously, no one of these is going to be the soul factor... but the degree of influence of each factor would be interesting to find out about.
  
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Re: tv hastens puberty
Reply #7 - 24. Jan 2006 at 16:17
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Quote:
danger!
-------
Thursday, 15 July, 2004, 23:20 GMT 00:20 UK 

Cut kids' TV 'to protect health'

A Lancet study found adults who had been avid TV watchers as children were more likely be overweight, to smoke and to have high cholesterol.
...
The researchers followed 1,000 children born in 1972 and 1973 from the ages of three up to the age of 26.


Well, I was born in 1972 0 here's what I think of that "study"..

(hold on, I got a cigarette in one hand and a Big Mac in the other...)

Geez...

Smiley
MJ
  
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