Incentive to Move
Dr. Gary Goldfield
A researcher at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario is helping obese children become more physically active
This month, families around the world will be sitting down in front of the television to watch some of the best athletes in the world compete for Olympic gold. TV networks and advertisers would like us to watch as much programming as possible. But from a health perspective, it may be better to get up off the couch and pursue our own fitness goals. Unfortunately, for many Canadian children, simply switching off the TV and getting regular exercise seems like an Olympic feat.
"Only 13% of Canadian kids are getting the recommended 90 minutes of moderate physical activity a day," says Dr. Gary Goldfield, a clinical psychologist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa. "And 90% of children watch more than two hours of TV each day."
Meeting the minimum recommendations can be particularly challenging for obese children. They are often teased by their peers and excluded from playground activities. Because of the extra weight they carry, obese kids may find sports more difficult and less rewarding than leaner children do. In the face of these physical and psychological barriers, obese children often seek comfort in watching television and playing video games, sedentary activities that just add to the problem.
"It's a real 'chicken and egg' problem," says Dr. Goldfield. "They're not exercising because of their weight, and they're continuing to gain weight because they aren't exercising."
The result: the extra weight prevents kids from achieving success in sports and jeopardizes their future health. Obese children face a higher risk of developing numerous diseases as adults, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and osteoarthritis.
Dr. Goldfield has been investigating whether parents can use the allure of TV and video games to help kids break this vicious cycle. In a recent study, he recruited obese kids to wear accelerometers – small devices worn on the body to measure the speed and distance travelled by the wearer – for eight weeks. Half of the kids were assigned to a group that "earned" one hour of TV or videogame time for each 400 counts of exercise they completed. The rest of the kids were allowed to watch TV or play videogames as much as they wanted.
Dr. Goldfield and his research team found that the children in the first group exercised more and spent an average of 100 fewer minutes in front of the television each day than the kids in the control group. In addition, they found that the kids in this group felt better about themselves and their bodies at the end of the study.
"We also saw a reduction in fat intake and snack food intake among the kids in the intervention group," says Dr. Goldfield. "People tend to snack in front of the TV, so if you can reduce the number of hours of TV viewing, it makes sense that you will also reduce food intake."
The findings suggest that, with the help of a little technology, parents may be able reduce the time spent by their children in front of the TV or computer screen. Dr. Goldfield plans to do a longer study next to see if this sort of reward system has a long-term impact on activity levels. If this strategy helps kids establish healthier, more active lifestyles, it would be great news for parents and kids across the country.
"Families can use fairly simple, inexpensive reward systems such as TokenTV ™ or TV Allowance® to help limit the amount of TV kids watch and increase the amount of time they spend engaging in physical activity," says Dr. Goldfield.