The effects had already been investigated separately, but it is the first time that a study considers the joint effects of certain behaviors that can be considered as three enemies of childhood obesity: the excess of television, a bad rest and not sharing the table with the family.
Of course, it goes without saying that a sedentary lifestyle and a hypercaloric diet are also, but what the American researchers who have carried out the study wanted to highlight is that habits that we may not have as much in mind as children spend too many hours in front of the television, that they rest badly or a low frequency of family meals are directly related to childhood obesity.
Controlling these three threats in preschool children by reducing television to a maximum of two hours per day, ensuring that they get enough sleep (about ten hours a day) and trying to dine as a family at least five times per week, is key to fighting this great epidemic that has been installed in developed countries.
The study we are talking about has shown that all three together can reduce the risk of obesity by 40%.
Good habits start at home and promoting a healthy lifestyle for children is our responsibility, that of parents. Our involvement is fundamental to the health of our children, therefore, with respect to this issue, and in general, we should not lower our guard.
Although we do not have the easy things we have to row against the current to encourage good customs in them that, in the short and long term, will benefit them.
