I’ve always thought that asthma is a condition that’s genetic, passed on from parent to child and of course, due to environmental exposures, people can still develop asthma even though both parents are not asthmatic. Many more people today have asthma compared to before, so how do you help your children to be asthama-free?
This little excerpt from Guardian UK has some interesting tip:
Young children who watch more than two hours of television a day are twice as likely to develop asthma as those who watch less, reports a new study. But this doesn’t mean that TV watching actually causes asthma. Instead, researchers say watching a lot of TV could indicate a less active lifestyle, which may make asthma more likely.
You can read the full article here.
So there you have it, one of our common lifestyle activities could pose a health hazard to our kids without even us knowing it. How many of us let our kids get glued to the TV everyday? And once they’re glued to it, how long do they sit there being engrossed with the TV programs? If your kid is one who doesn’t peel herself or himself away from the TV, then maybe it’s time you need to think of doing something to get her or him to turn to something else of interest.
I know many parents find the convenienve of the idiot box a blessing as they can put their kids in front of it and have time to tend to some house work without being interupted with kiddie demands. But now to think of it, them being up and about and prancing around might really prove to be a healthier way of living.
So how then should we all cope with finding some extra time on our hands when our little ones aren’t glued to the TV? I don’t know. I haven’t quite come to that stage because my boy doesn’t get too glued to TV programs. Even though he requests for his shows, he wouldn’t sit still all the time to watch it. He’d be toying around with something in his hands, walking about or just wanting to have the background noise of the TV while he goes about doing other things.
Do I then feel blessed that he hasn’t caught on to being glued to the TV now that I’ve found out this little fact that links the inactivity of watching TV to contracting asthma? Certainly!
