Screen time and heart disease for kids

It’s hard to determine from this whether new findings on the effect of increased amount of screen time for kids and constricted blood vessels are a link to heart disease.

Children who spend more time in front of television and computer screens and less in outdoor physical activity have narrower blood vessels in their eyes, a new study has found.

In adults, constricted blood vessels in the eyes have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

[From Screen-Watching Children Have Narrow Blood Vessels in Eyes, Study Finds – NYTimes.com]

I’m not a doctor, but in adults, the constricted blood vessels are likely an effect of the heart disease, not necessarily a predictor of it. For kids, it’s hard to say that constrictions mean heart disease, though it would seem to follow common sense that it’s best to keep kids active at least an hour a day and limit kids’ screen time, computer or TV, to a small amount.