4 Why is controlling screen time important?
The general recommendation for screen time is approximately two hours a day, although there is no uniform global guidance on this in the way there is for physical activity (AAP, 2016). This suggested figure is based on research showing that excessive media use can lead to attention problems, difficulties at school, sleep and eating disorders, and obesity. But why is it important to look at screen time and what connection does this have with a child’s physical activity levels? Activity 4 will explore this.

Activity 4 Screen time, physical activity levels and blood pressure
Read an article by the NHS titled ‘Over two hours screen time a day may raise a child’s blood pressure’, which discusses some research that was published in the International Journal of Cardiology. Then note down the main conclusions presented in the article.
Discussion
The study reported that high blood pressure existed in just over 10 per cent of children, which was double the predicted 5 per cent. It also reported that the risk of high blood pressure was 53 per cent more likely for children with low levels of physical activity and 28 per cent more likely for children with more than two hours of ‘screen time’ a day. Therefore, physical activity can be seen to have a greater influence on a child’s blood pressure than screen time.
OpenLearn - The impact of technology on children's physical activity Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.