Limiting, and in some cases eliminating, screen time for children under the age of 5 will result in healthier adults, the organization, a United Nations health agency, announced Wednesday.
But taking away iPads and other electronic devices is only part of the solution, the researchers said. Children under 5 should also get more exercise and sleep to develop better habits that will stave off obesity and diseases in adolescence and adulthood, the guidelines said.
“Achieving health for all means doing what is best for health right from the beginning of people’s lives,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said in a statement. “Early childhood is a period of rapid development and a time when family lifestyle patterns can be adapted to boost health gains.”
Screen time has become shorthand for the amount of time spent interacting with TVs, computers, smartphones, digital tablets and video games. But there is limited data on its short- and long-term effects on brain development and overall health.
In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued guidelines that recommended children under 18 months avoided screen time other than video-chatting. And it recommended introducing only “high-quality programming” to children 18 to 24 months of age, and advised that parents and caregivers watch the program with them. Children between the ages of 2 to 5 should watch only one hour per day of approved programming.
The World Health Organization’s guidelines go further than those recommendations.
“Improving physical activity, reducing sedentary time and ensuring quality sleep in young children will improve their physical, mental health and well-being and help prevent childhood obesity and associated diseases later in life,” said Dr. Fiona Bull, a WHO program manager who led a team of experts who developed the guidelines.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.