Babies who watch more than two hours of television had a 16 percent chance of becoming overweight, the research published in April's Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine said. The study was based on mothers' reports of their babies' sleep and television viewing habits, and direct measures of the children's height, weight and skin thickness.
The study carried out by a team at Harvard Medical School into 915 infants showed risk for those who got more sleep and watched less television was 1 percent. The researchers found 586 of the children slept an average of 12 or more hours a day and 329 of the children slept less than that.
Among the babies who slept longer, 7 percent were obese at age 3. Researchers suggested lack of stimulates hormones that influence appetite thus leading those children to eat more.
Also, watching too much of television leads to more exposure to junk food advertising, which may affect diet, BBC reports. The researchers also conclude that the findings may also be relevant for older children.
