Obesity is amongst the most common health problems among the youth today. There can be many reasons that lead to obesity such as overeating, medical condition, no physical activity, etc. In a recent national study, researchers from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center found that having a television in th bedroom was a significant predictor of adolescent weight gain. The researchers have observed that children who have televisions in their bedroom put on much more weight and show high BMI parameters than those who don’t.

The researchers said they don't know the exact reasons for the weight gain but they offered two possibilities: greater exposure to food advertising and disrupted sleep patterns, including later bedtimes and poorer sleep quality.

Sleep deprivation is one of the adverse effects of having a television in the bedroom. Sleep is very necessary for our health. At least 7-8 hours of sleep a day is required. It is seen that children with televisions in their bedroom, have sleep problems and ultimately gain weight. According to experts "When kids have TV in the bedroom, they isolate themselves from the family," he added. "They tend to go to bed later. They tend to be less active. They tend to snack on junk food. All of this will increase weight."

It’s not so much that if you sleep, you will lose weight, but if you are sleep-deprived, meaning that you are not getting enough hours of good quality sleep, your metabolism will not function properly.

Also, when you are sleep deprived, you will automatically feel low on energy and will grab something unhealthy to eat, which will gradually give you unwanted fat.

Bedroom televisions linked to increase in BMI

Results of one of the study revealed that having a television in the bedroom was linked to an excess BMI of 0.57 at 2 years after study baseline and an excess BMI of 0.75 at 4 years after study baseline. Furthermore, they say a bedroom television may increase exposure to child-targeted food advertising.

It becomes important to conduct parental education regarding this issue which can affect the child’s health. It is important to keep the youngsters in discipline in their daily routine. Removing the television from the bedroom could tackle the problem of obesity to some extent.