Personal Health: For Kids, Increased Screen Time Can Equal Increased Blood Pressure

Published on August 10th, 2009 in THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.

Kids' screen time is linked to development of hypertension
More time plopped in front of a screen - computer, video, video game, and, particularly, television - may raise the risk of elevated blood pressure in children, according to a new study.

The researchers tracked activity levels of 111 children ages 3 to 8 - 57 boys and 54 girls - round-the-clock for a week via measurements from an accelerometer worn over the right hip as well as parents' reports of the average time their child spent sitting or engaging in activities that ranged from painting to watching TV. They also considered age, sex, height, percentage of body fat, and other differences.

Excessive TV time and total screen time were linked to elevated blood pressure - a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and other health problems - even when possibly related measures, such as body fat, were separated from the analysis. Children who spent less than 30 minutes a day in front of a screen tended to have the lowest blood pressures, the researchers report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. (The average was 90 minutes.)

Interestingly, the researchers did not find an association between blood pressure and sedentary behavior in general, leading them to suggest that factors specific to watching a screen - eating foods high in sugar, fat and salt, for example, or disruptive sleep patterns that have been associated with TV time - might play a role. - Heather J. Chin

Read the full article here.

“Dexter” To Expand Into the Video Game World

By Heather Chin

(previously published at www.thecelebritycafe.com on March 6, 2008)

Showtime signs a deal to design a video game based on their recent hit drama.

“A serial killer isn’t always a bad thing,” said author Jeff Lindsay to describe the idea behind his book series about a man named Dexter Morgan. Apparently not, because with a book series, a unique hit on cable, and most recently an experimental run on network TV (CBS), “Dexter” is now poised to now enter another form of media consumption – the video game franchise.

According to Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter, the Showtime series about a serial killer whose targets are the ne’er-do-wells left behind through his day job as a forensic expert will soon be available on multiple gaming platforms, such as Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. It will be co-developed by Marc Ecko Entertainment.

The character of Dexter Morgan first entered the world through author Jeff Lindsay’s 2004 novel, “Darkly Dreaming Dexter.” Now played by Michael C. Hall, of “Six Feet Under” fame, “Dexter” reaches an average of around 7 million viewers on CBS, compared to the 569,000 copies of all three Dexter chronicles, according to numbers from USA Today.