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Mom's
Depression Linked to Kid's Inactivity
Excerpt
By Amanda Gardner, HealthScoutNews
(HealthScoutNews) -- Preschool
children whose mothers are depressed and overweight watch more
TV and spend less time outdoors, and that could lead to obesity
later in life, a new study suggests.
The study, presented this week to the North American Association
for the Study of Obesity meeting in Quebec City, looked at 150
low-income mothers of preschool children, ages 3 to 5. On average,
their children watched two hours of television a day. However,
children whose mothers were depressed but of normal weight watched
2½ hours of television daily; children whose mothers were
both obese and depressed watched 3½ hours every day. More
time staring at the screen translates into less time outdoors,
say the study's authors.
"The focus was on determining some of the barriers to physical
activity, and one barrier was the inability to plan opportunities
for the child to be active," says lead study author Dr. Hillary
Burdette, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital Medical Center
of Cincinnati. "We thought maternal depression would be a
logical barrier to [the ability] to plan."
No one knows exactly how a mother's depression and the child's
activity levels are linked, but it's possible that because a depressed
mom is lethargic and less able to interact with others, she also
is less able to plan activities and outings. "What we're
trying to understand is how young children spend their time, and
I think we have to think about mothers' well-being because it's
really the mother who needs to be providing these opportunities,"
says Burdette.
"The research I'm seeing indicates that it's inactivity,
not what kids are eating, that is causing obesity," says
Frances M. Berg, a family health specialist who is an adjunct
professor of rural health at the University of North Dakota School
of Medicine and founder and editor of Healthy Weight Journal.
"And certainly there's less activity if the television is
being used for a babysitter versus letting kids go outside to
play."
"I think the concept of mothers and depression very clearly
is going to increase the risk of obesity because it's the same
issue," says Dr. Ira Sacker, director and founder of HEED
(Helping to End Eating Disorders) at Brookdale University Hospital
and Medical Center, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and author of the book
Dying to Be Thin. "The child sees the mother eating,
being overweight, being unhappy and therefore not demonstrating
to the child by example a behavior that's going to be effective."
The study involved only low-income (at or below 185 percent of
poverty level) white women in rural Vermont, so the results may
not apply to everybody. "It's too small a group to go and
totally suggest that this is a definite, but it shows the complications
of some of the issues that can lead to obesity and disordered
eating in families," says Sacker.
On the other hand, Burdette says, "Depression and obesity
are common in low-income populations, so it's a good population
to study for that reason. It could be a potential target population."
The issue of physical activity for kids is a universal one, says
Berg. "What is missing for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds is a lot
of time playing outside. It's what's desperately needed for our
children."
What To Do:
To learn more about kids and exercise, visit the American Heart
Association's
Exercise and Children site.
To learn more about kids and obesity, try the American Heart
Association's
Obesity and Overweight in Children site.
Dr. Sacker's
Helping to End Eating Disorders Web site has information on
HEED and links to other sites.
Frances Berg's Web site,
Healthy Weight Network, features scientific research on dieting
and weight loss programs, eating disorders, obesity, size acceptance,
diet quackery and more.
You can also visit the
American Academy of Pediatrics for information on the influence
of television and how parents can moderate that influence.
Reference
Source 101
For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick
Prevention Resources".
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