Screens, Exercise and Children’s Mental Health: What the Evidence Now Shows
The Times Magazine on Dec 20 carried an article about Dr Nichani, a consultant at Leicester Children’s Hospital who has been doing research in to the reason ADHD diagnoses have been rising. He is horrified by the surge in anxiety, attention deficit disorders and social withdrawal in children. He says screens are changing their brains ‘Once, I hardly saw non-verbal children, now its more and more’. The reason is always the same: ‘The child is spending most working hours on screens’. He says the effect is that children’s personalities change, they sleep less well, they cannot interact, their academic performance drops, they are impulsive and irritable.. They suffer from anxiety, lack of focus and insomnia.
His research is backed by research from many other places. Dr Nichani believes the solution is exercise. – more effective and safer that ADHD drugs. He suggests that starting on drugs can lead them to stay on drugs until adults, stuck in a cycle of anti-depressants. He says ‘But the brain has incredible power to rejuvenate and recalibrate. What is being thought of as a disease or disorder is often just imbalance. Changing our habits can retrain the brain due to neuroplasticity’.
The hippocampus (the brains mood and memory hub) physically shrinks when there is chronic screen exposure but aerobic activity triggers the release of growth hormones (BDNF and IGF-1) which help the creation of new neurons and address the imbalance. Exercise raises serotonin (mood stabiliser), dopamine (motivation and focus) and brain tranquilliser while lowering cortisol (the stress hormone). Solution: less screen time and 30-45 mins of exercise (walking, running, cycling sports, disco dancing) at least three times a week.
Since screens became universal international tests in maths and science have recorded falling test scores in 80 countries. Dr Nivani’s research confirms studies in USA and Sweden (each hour of physical activity at the age of 11 cut the risk of psychiatric diagnosis by 12%) For boys doing organised sport the risk of depression fell by more than a third.
How much screen time is permitted?
0-2 none except video calls
2-5 up to 30 mins on a large screen device (never a phone)
5-1 60minutes
11-17 – no screens first thing in the morning, 1-2 hours recreationally after school or and a max of 3 hours at weekends.
Schools should ban smartphones from their premises. The government should intervene to protect under 16s as in Australia. Dr Nivani notes that TIK-Tok is owned by the Chinese but the Chinese switch it off nationally at 10pm..
