Childhood obesity now affects one out of every four kids. That is 25% of the population. Should it be any surprise when one in every three Americans is suffering weight problems? But there is something that most of us may not know about, and that is Television has a big role to play in this.

The average child spends 3-4 hours a day in front of the television set. That adds up to over 26 hours of television weekly and in a year you can expect that your child will probably spend more time watching The Simpsons than time reading about War of the Roses in school.

The most common ways television affects children’s health is either by the commercials shown on TV or just sitting in front of the set.

According to Nelson Media Reports, each year the average child is exposed to 11,000 plus food advertisements. Is it any wonder why Johnny keeps asking for the Frosted Flakes after you have told him several times to put it down? Remember the television has told him several hundred times to pick it up and put it in the cart. And it also teaches him that if he insists you will get fed up and give in to him. Couple that with the fact that most of the food commercials on TV especially for children programming is either candy or junk food and since the schools are not doing any better in the nutrition of our children it should come as no surprise when Johnny is going from a waist size 26-34 at age 11 or 12.

The second way is by the metabolic rate of the body slowing down. Every person has a specific metabolic rate at which it burns calories. Sometimes the metabolism of the body can be off and so its burning fewer calories than it should. But more likely than not it is the fact that more food is being put in than should be.

The brain has two modes. Beta waves which are for cognitive or analytic thinking (what you are doing now), and Alfa waves which are the hypnotic waves used by many in the new age religions and hypnotists. Within three minutes of Television watching the brain switches form beta to alfa waves. This means that all the body functions slow down drastically. And guess which is most affected? The metabolic rate of the body. That is why it is worse to sit in front of the TV after a heavy meal than to take a nap.

It just might be time to pull the plug on our little Johnny and give him a life outside the television set. He might whine at first but he’ll thank you later. Plus it might also help him make some new friends and of course save you money at the medicine man down the road.