Too much television sets toddlers up for problems when they're older.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Research on kids and TV is making it patently clear that too much television viewing can be hazardous to your child’s mental and physical health. A new study out of Canada may provide the most alarming proof yet. Researchers found that as TV watching went up among kids aged 2 years and 4 months, by age 10 the “heavy users” among the group did worse in school, ate less healthfully, weighed more, and were more likely to get bullied on a regular basis.

THE DETAILS: As reported in this month’s issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, a team of Canadian and U.S. researchers gathered parent-reported data measuring hours of TV viewing among 1,314 children age 2 years old. When the kids were 10, the researchers obtained parent and teacher reports of the kids’ academic, psychosocial, and health behaviors, as well as body mass index (BMI) measurements. The results are worthy of an Oprah episode (not that the kids should watch it): For each hour per night of TV viewing beyond the average that kids watched at age 2, as 10-year-olds the kids experienced:

• A 7% decrease in classroom engagement
• A 6% decrease in math achievement
• A 13% decrease in time spent in physical activity
• A 10% increase in frequency of bullying by classmates
• A 9% increase in consumption of soft drinks
• A 10% increase in consumption of snacks
• A 5% increase in BMI