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TV Watching Poses Great Risk to Children’s Eyes: University of Sydney

Nowadays children are much addicted to TV and computers than any other thing. They are ignoring the physical activity and even stopped playing outdoor games after the invent of the latest PC games and online games. This is affecting them a lot says the researchers from the University of Sydney.

The latest survey conducted on around 1,500 six year old children from 34 schools from Sydney showed some astonishing results. The report concluded that children who spend more time in front of televisions and computers and who are doing less physical activity have narrower blood vessel in their eyes.

According to the article published in the Journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, the study started with a questionnaire for the parents of the children, asking them about the details of the time that their children usually spend to watch TV and to do physical activity or in playing any outdoor games. Later the retinal images were taken and retinal vessel caliber was quantified for all the children.

After comparing and considering all the possible factors it showed that the children who spent more time in watching TV had a narrow mean retinal arteriolar caliber, that is they have narrow blood vessels in their eyes which are slightly smaller in diameter when compared to the people who are less TV watchers.

The same was found in the case of children who do less physical activity. Blood vessels in their eyes are narrow when compared to the people who spent more time in some kind of outdoor sporting activities.

Adults too get affected in the similar way by regular TV watching. In adults, constricted blood vessels in the eyes have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The researchers from the same University concluded saying that the magnitude of arteriolar narrowing associated with each hour daily of TV viewing is similar to that associated with a 10-mm Hg increase in systolic blood pressure in children.

Anything beyond the limits is always dangerous. So allow your children to spend time equally on all the activities. Physical activity should be made must for them since it increases the bone strength and helps them grow quickly and more healthily.