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Hello everyone . On this week's podcast

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we're going to explore the impact of screen

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time on our children's health and well-being

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and share practical strategies for

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finding balance in today's digital world . I'm

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your host , dr Enrico Delcecchore , and

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in today's episode we'll delve into the effects

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of excessive screen time on

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children's health and offer actionable

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tips for families to reduce screen

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time and foster healthier

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habits . Let's

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dive into this . There's some alarming

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statistics about how our kids

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are using screen time . Did you

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know the average child between 8

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and 18 spends

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over seven hours a day using

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screen time for entertainment purposes

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. That's more than half of their

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waking hours on a screen . You say , well , how

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can that be when they're in school for half the day ? Yeah

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, school keeps them active with academics

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and they may even get a little bit of screen time there

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, but really it's the evening hours

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and weekends when they're spending tons

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of time on their devices or watching

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television . And

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with social distancing and at

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home measures , with school remote learning

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or homeschooling , these digital

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advances really start to affect

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our children in many ways . Their

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implications in the excessive screen

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time on our children's health . Studies

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have shown a strong correlation between high

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screen time and various health issues . We

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know this . The research is out there showing that even

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in adults , the more time we spend in front of the computer

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, in front of our screens , the higher

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some comorbidities end

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up happening . So the number one thing is

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obesity . It creates a sedentary lifestyle

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where screen time often replaces

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physical activity . You ask kids today

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you know what games are they're playing . If

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it's Fortnite or whatever it may be , they're super

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into something . And then you ask them what sports

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they play , and they don't play any sports . They're playing video

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games all the time . It increases the risk

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of obesity Number one . That's the biggest statistic

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out there . Number two it disrupts

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the entire sleep pattern and in the

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developing brain . For children , the

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blue light emitted by screens can disrupt

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the body's natural sleep wake cycle

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. This leads difficulty in falling

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asleep and then getting poor quality

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of sleep once we are asleep . In

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some cases it can lead to

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aneurysis or bedwetting or

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night terrors or even

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disrupted sleeps in other way . And

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then you get tired kids , which can then affect

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and then the domino effect starts happening with

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academics learning vocabulary

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, and the list goes on and on . Also

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, using screens have physical wear and tear as well

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. Eye strain and digital eye syndrome

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are happening because of excessive

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screen time and cause eye

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strains , dry eyes and other symptoms

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, collectively known as digital eye syndrome . This

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is just from the overuse . It can happen to adults

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as well , from all the computer time we use , but

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these are symptoms from overusing

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screen times and

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then behavioral problems . In

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our practice this is the number one thing we deal

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with . When it comes to the

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spectrum or any type of academic or

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ADHD type diagnosis

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that we see in the office is that we get

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behavioral issues or integrative issues

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with children and this is

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from prolonged screen time being

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linked to attention problems and impulsivity

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issues and difficulty with self regulation

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in children , because screens

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not just the screen , the device , but the content

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that we consume as well creates

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a dopamine rush , whether it's the YouTube

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videos they're watching , whether it's the games that they're

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playing , whether even if it's the academic learning

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that they're doing . It can stimulate their

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dopamine receptors constantly and we get

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this rush of happy

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hormones and when that's

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taken away it can lead to a massive

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shift in behavior , which you probably have experienced

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with your children , and

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we see this from the use of screen time . So I hope

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those stats show you a little bit of what's going

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on with you know , eight hours a day ? That

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seems excessive . Or seven hours a day of

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screen time that's a full time job

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. What are we doing with these screens ? We

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really have to keep an eye on this , setting timers

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, and we're going to go through some some things that we can

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do to help families reduce screen

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time and promote healthier habits

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. So here's some practical

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tips . I'll give you eight . So if you have a pen and paper

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, maybe you want to write down quick notes on

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these eight things that may help you and your families

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with screen time and

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creating limits

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. So that's number one . Set screen time

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limits . Just set firm

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boundaries and rules to how long

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we should be playing . So when your child asks hey , it's

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Saturday morning , can I play Fortnite

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or can I play the game on my Nintendo Switch

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? Yes , you got 30 minutes

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Ready , clock starts now

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and they'll go and rush

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and get their thing and they'll play 30 minutes . And then the

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rules are that in

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30 minutes , when I ask you to be done

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, you will be done , and as long as you can maintain

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the rules , then you are more than

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welcome to use it the next time you ask . So

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establish clear guidelines for how

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much screen time is allowed each day and

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stick to them . So maybe 30 minutes is per usage

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but per day . You may wanna follow

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the Academy of Pediatrics recommendation

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of no more than one to two hours of screen

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time for children aged two to five

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and consistent limits for older

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children as well . So we wanna keep this under two hours

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for children that are preschool aged

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, just because of the development

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of their brain and they are literally

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learning from their environment , and if we substitute

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a screen , well , that now becomes

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their environment , which isn't real . So

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number two create screen-free

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zones , playrooms or areas

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in your home or anywhere where there are no screens designated

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for certain play times or home activities

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, or bedrooms , dining rooms

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and screen-free zones to promote the family interaction

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and relaxation . So

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in the bonus room , upstairs should be a play area and

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have no TV in it , or maybe that is the movie

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room and you create other areas in

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the house where there is no television , maybe in the kitchen

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that's eating time , or definitely

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not in the bedrooms that's for sleep time and relaxation

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. We have no screens in the bedrooms . Whatever

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works for your family . Creating

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some screen-free

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zones is a fantastic rule

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to create to minimize screen

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exposure for kids , because it's easy to just pop

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lock and lie down in bed and then turn on the TV

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and watch it for two hours before you go

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to bed . That's just adding hours per

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day . Encourage alternative

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activities . That's number three . Try and encourage

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other things that your children can do . Provide alternative

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activities for children to engage in , such as outdoor

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play , arts , crafts , reading

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, board games . Have these easily accessible

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for kids to go and grab

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and play . I know my kids , you know they pile

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everything up in their rooms or in the corner in the play

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areas . They know where their toys are

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, but seldomly do they go and get them . They need to

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be encouraged . Hey , do you remember where of all the Mario

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Legos ? Remember Mario ? He does that little bounce thing

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. Let's create a little thing for that and

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you can stimulate activities for

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them to go and play instead

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of use digital screens

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. Number four lead

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by example , boy . This one as

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adults , this one's a tough one . We got phones literally

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in our pockets , in our hands , and

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I don't even want to give you the statistics for

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adults , but I do

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. Do you want to hear this Upward

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of 12 hours per

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day on digital

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devices for most adults in America , can

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you ? I can't wrap my head around those numbers

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. I'm like that's pretty much my waking hours during

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the day . If I wake up at five in the morning

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, I guess I don't go to bed at five , go

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to bed like at 10 . But okay , so 12

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plus five , 17 hours , 12 out of 17 hours

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out of the day I'm on a screen . That's

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what the stats tell me . As an adult , that that is

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even worse . That boggles my mind that I only

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have five hours when I'm not on a screen . And

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I know for one one and a half I'm working out and

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, and and . Now we put we put screens

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on our , on our bikes . Now , now , now

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you have a screen on your

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indoor house bike , you're watching

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a screen . So screens are everywhere

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. So we have to lead by example . So

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phone time is pretty much what I'm

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hitting here is like most model

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. You know you need to model healthy screen habits

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for your children and that's by limiting

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your own screen time and prioritizing

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face-to-face interactions . If

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you have young ones , you know what I'm talking about . You're on your

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phone , you're actually doing something . You're answering

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an email or replying to a text or something

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important in your two-year-olds like mom , mom

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, dad , dad , dad . You know , wait , a second

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, hang on , I'm doing this is prioritizing

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the phone . Your child doesn't know what you're doing , that you're

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out writing an email , so

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they probably they think , oh , wow , well , hang on , the phone's

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more important than me . And when you think about that stuff

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, boys , it's tough being a parent and beating yourself

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up about those things , but it's got to lead , for example

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, as much as you can , and these are the truths . Those

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are the truths . Number four , number five use

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parental controls . These are . These are controls

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where you can time the devices to turn off . You

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can do it for your television most smart TVs do it now . You

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can do it for the Nintendo switch . You can do it for game

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devices . You can do it for a whole bunch of things where you can just

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use parental controls and you

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can feel not only filter out inappropriate

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content for sure , we definitely want

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to be doing that , but there's also limiting your

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child's screen time , where little clocks pop up

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and say you got 60 seconds left , and there's

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some cool things . You just got to utilize these tools

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which can help you govern

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screen time as a busy adult

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and a busy parent . Number six

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establish tech free times

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as well . Encourage , you

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know , set aside designated times during

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the day , such as meal times and bedtime

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, where screens are off-limit for the entire family

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. We're going to bed , we're going to unwind

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for 30 minutes , there is no screen time

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. That's really important

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to do so . Establish tech free

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times , okay . Number seven

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encourage physical activity . Encourage

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regular physical activity and outdoor play to

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counterbalance cemetery screen time

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and promote overall health . Of course

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, if we're using screens , we're not moving pretty much

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cemetery . So this makes perfect sense

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. Try and counteract the amount of screen

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time with activity to try and balance out

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movement and cemetery life . I

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like that one pretty straightforward Getting

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them into activities or just designated bike

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rides or going outside for a walk with the family

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in the evenings , whatever it is . Try

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, try and do those things as well . And

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number eight is just communicate

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openly about screen time . Have open

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and honest conversations with your children

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About the importance of balanced

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screen use and potential consequences

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of excessive screen time on their health

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and well-being . Being honest

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about the side effects of using screen

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time can be very powerful . Your kids are actually

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very smart Telling

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them hey , you know , these things can fatigue

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your eyes , they can actually hurt your brain

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, they can slow you down , they can

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make , make you change behavior , they can make you

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angry . They can make you feel

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emotional . They can , you know , downgrade

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you , they can . They can do a lot of things by

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using too much of it . And I love

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the seven , eight , nine year olds , you know , putting

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up the debate , saying no , I'm gonna be

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okay , I'll go to bed . I promise I'll trying

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to litigate their case about

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how they should be using screen

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time and that and that's great to see , but

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not letting that win , not letting

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that battle win the screen

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time debate . Because they can't

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grasp the concepts of this . They think , no , I'm

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perfectly fine , I can do this . It's just

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your job as the adult to tell them hey , you

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know screen time , we all

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have to limit this and you

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know , the older they get , the more they're gonna use the

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times you use your phone . But when you have a

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phone , you get to use this stuff and the

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battle begins right , it's just

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they're people , they're becoming adults and

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they're gonna do these things . But screen time

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from a health and wellness perspective

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, we see it . We deal with a lot

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of families struggling with attention deficit disorder

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, behavioral dysregulation

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, cognitive dysregulation , tonal

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issues with the nervous system , and

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it branches into a whole bunch of things of OCD

12:19

, not being able to sleep , bedwetting I've

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said these things in the podcast and

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once we start to work on the toxic

12:26

interference both mental , physical

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and emotional we start to see

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the regulation of the tonal

12:34

nervous system and we start to see the changes very

12:36

quickly when you start to do this stuff . So

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physical would be something like screen

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time where we're truly just draining

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the visual acuity parts

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of the brain and stimulating

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hormone responses that are just not normal Even

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for us . Some of us are addicted to social media

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because we just scroll . We get caught into the scroll

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dungeon where we just scroll , scroll , scroll

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. That's you fatigued

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, scrolling and

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just getting dopamine tricking

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almost like a morphine drip IV and

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that if you catch yourself doing it , that

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is exactly what that is . It's the feel good

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hormones just kind of dripping and

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you may not , you may feel horrible in that

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time . You may be fatigued , you may be like I should

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be sleeping , not scrolling , but

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yet you still do it . But being conscious

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about these things and addressing them is

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powerful for both you and your family

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. So being aware , just

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be the aware family that is on that

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. Set limits , set screen

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time rules , limit the devices

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in the home , limit the temptation

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, keep them out of the bedrooms . What great

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advice . This is just great , simple advice . I

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didn't make this up . Came from a bunch of the

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academic pediatric association and

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a few other journals as well that just have

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facts behind the research there

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that obesity is tied to

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this and all the facts that we do and research

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for these things . It's there . I didn't make

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this stuff up . I just thought those were great . Eight

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tips to help families

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move forward . If you have any questions about these

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things or maybe I brought up some things about total regulation

14:09

in the nervous system ask away . We

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love to answer these questions and what you can do is multiple

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things we can do to help our kids regulate

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better and downgrade from

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overstimulation . So sometimes we're

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being in a loop . Maybe you're a parent that's like mind . My

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kid definitely spends hours playing video

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games and doing the stuff . What can I do to help them

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? We'd love to reach out . We'd love to help

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you as well and get you some resources

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that may help you and your family have

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a great week , stay well , stay

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healthy and take care .