Reasons why you should kick the TV out of your room

Raise your hand if you have a television in the bedroom? How about the kids' bedroom? It's not hard to put a television in every room, especially if you keep upgrading to sleeker, flatter, sharper television sets. I don't have kids, yet I have three televisions in the house, and yes, I have the obligatory flat-panel display in the bedroom because I'm a news junkie who likes to watch CNN in the morning.

It seems to me that lately, researchers are focusing on the effects of having a television set in the bedroom. In a nutshell, having a TV in your sleep sanctuary is bad, very bad, but we already knew that. I guess what we may not have known is how bad it really is, especially when it's in the kid's room. So to bring you up to speed, I've gathered the latest findings hoping to shed some light on this bad habit.

New York Times and IO9 have good articles on the subject so I'll start there. Here's what they say in a nutshell:

TV makes you dumb: In a 2005 study of six Northern California schools, 70 percent of students who had their own TV scored "significantly and consistently" lower on math, reading, and language-arts tests. Those who had computers scored higher. It's believed the TV is a distraction during homework and may interfere with sleep. Seventh graders in Montreal also had the same problem. Those who spent more time in front of the TV, had lower grades. No surprise there.

TV makes you overweight: Several studies have suggested that kids with TVs in their bedroom are likely to be overweight. In a two-year study by the The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, researchers found that kids snacked less when a device (I'm assuming BOB) was programmed to cut into the child's TV viewing time. Kids weren't inspired to exercise more, they just ate less calories a day. A French study found that boys with TVs in their bedroom were more likely to gain weight.

TV makes you a smoker: Yet, another study of 700 middle-school students between 12 and 14 years old, found that kids with TVs were twice as likely to start smoking. Of those surveyed, 42 percent who smoked had a TV in their bedroom.

TV messes up your sleeping patterns: Ok, so all the above figures have been for kids, but adults are also affected by bedroom TVs. Blog IO9, found a survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey (ATUS) shows that late night TV watching can control a person's sleeping patterns. Once upon a time, the day and night cycle determined our sleeping patterns, but with modern technology, mainly that television in the room, people's sleeping patterns are getting worse. Those most vulnerable to TV-timed sleep changes are people who work in services sectors like education, health, leisure, and hospitality, and people who live in the Eastern time zone.

There you have it. A few more reasons to kick that bedroom TV out.

Related:

Sleeping Alone? Your Gadgets May Be at Fault
Is Your Geeky Lifestyle Affecting Your Health?
Are Your Teens Getting Junk Sleep?
Teens spending 30, 40, even 50 each week in front of screens