Health
Limit of 3 hours of weekly screen time for kids has ‘positive effect’ on behavior, mental health: study
When it comes to screen time and kids, less is more.
That’s according to a recent Denmark study led by Dr. Jesper Schmidt-Persson from the University of Southern Denmark. It looked at the effects of reduced screen media exposure on youth mental health.
Eighty-nine families with a total of 181 children and teens were randomly assigned to one of two groups.
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The first group had to surrender their smartphones and tablets for a two-week period, and limit use of other screen media — such as TV and computers — to three hours or less per week, not counting work or school.
The control group did not have any limitations.
Families that limited kids’ screen exposure saw improvements in the children’s mental health — particularly in how the kids managed their emotions, communicated with peers and displayed behavioral difficulties. (Cyberguy.com)
The average ages of the children ranged from 4 to 17, averaging at 8 to 9 years old.
The families filled out a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at the end of the study period that gauged the children’s psychological symptoms.
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The groups that limited kids’ screen exposure saw improvements in mental health — particularly in how they managed their emotions and communicated with peers in helpful, considerate ways, plus a decrease in behavioral difficulties.
The findings were published in JAMA Network Open last month.
Fox News Digital reached out to the lead researcher for comment.
Risks of excess screen time for kids
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory related to youth social media use, emphasizing mental health concerns.
“There is evidence that children who have excessive screen time or access to social media at young ages are more likely to be depressed or anxious,” Dr. Joshua Stein, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinical director at PrairieCare in Minnesota, previously told Fox News Digital.
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory related to social media use among youth, emphasizing mental health concerns. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
The expert cited a Gallup research study from 2023, which noted that teens who were on screens more than five hours a day were 60% more likely to express suicidal thoughts or self-harm.
“Those children were 2.8 times more likely to have a negative body view and 30% more likely to describe ‘a lot of sadness,’” added Stein, who was not involved in the Denmark research.
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Access to smartphones and social media increases the risk of cyberbullying, depression, sleep-related concerns, self-harm and body image issues, according to Stein.
“It can also lower self-esteem, and can socially pressure people to act outside their morals and family beliefs,” he added.
What’s a healthy amount of screen time for kids?
For kids ages 2 and older, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends capping screen time at two hours per day.
It discourages any use of media for children younger than age 2, per its website.
For kids ages 2 and older, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a cap of screen time at two hours per day. (iStock)
The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) outlines specific guidelines for each age group on its website.
For babies up to 18 months, it recommends limiting screen use to video chatting with an adult.
Between a child’s age of 18 month and 24 months, its guideline is to use screens only for educational programming.
For kids between 2 and 5 years of age, the AACAP recommends a limit of one hour per weekday and three hours on weekends for any non-educational screen time.
“To be honest and point blank, the least amount of screen time is healthy for children,” an expert told Fox News Digital. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
It does not specify an hourly limit for ages 6 and older, but does recommend encouraging healthy habits and limiting screen-based activities.
“To be honest and point blank, the least amount of screen time is healthy for children,” Dr. Zeyad Baker, a pediatric physician with Baker Health in New Jersey, previously told Fox News Digital.
He admitted that it gets trickier for parents to moderate use when kids need to do homework online — and he believes the quality of screen time comes into play when setting limits.
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“I think if you are doing family screen time on an educational level or if kids are using screen time to dig deep into valuable information and topics at a limited capacity, that is very different from watching and absorbing mindless content on the internet on a consistent basis,” Baker said.
An expert recommends only allowing children to have access to social media or certain television channels on the weekend and limiting screen time to academic-related content during the week. (Cyberguy.com)
He recommends only allowing children to have access to social media or certain television channels on the weekend and limiting screen time to academic-related content during the week.
Parents should not make screen time limitations come across as punishment, the expert noted.
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“Instead, they should encourage other activities, like going outside to play,” he said.
“Not only is that good for physical health, by adding activity and increasing vitamin D levels, but it’s also great for their mental health.”
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A new study suggests that middle-aged men may be more vulnerable to faster biological aging, potentially linked to exposure to “forever chemicals.”
The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Aging, examined how perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS, could impact aging at the cellular level.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals commonly used in nonstick cookware, food packaging, water-resistant fabrics and other consumer products, the study noted.
Their chemical structure makes them highly resistant to breaking down, allowing them to accumulate in water, soil and the human body.
Chinese researchers analyzed blood samples from 326 adults enrolled in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2000.
A new study suggests that middle-aged men could face accelerated biological aging at the cellular level due to exposure to PFAS. (iStock)
The researchers measured levels of 11 PFAS compounds in participants’ blood and used DNA-based “epigenetic clocks” — tools that analyze chemical changes to DNA to estimate biological age — to determine how quickly their bodies were aging at the cellular level, the study stated.
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Two compounds, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA), were detected in 95% of participants.
Higher concentrations of those chemicals were associated with faster biological aging in men of certain age groups, but not in women.
“People should not panic.”
The compounds most strongly linked to accelerated aging were not the PFAS chemicals that typically receive the most public attention, the researchers noted.
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“The associations were strongest in adults aged 50 to 64, particularly in men,” Dr. Xiangwei Li, professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and the study’s corresponding author, told Fox News Digital.
“While this does not establish that PFAS cause aging, it suggests that these widely present ‘forever chemicals’ may be linked to molecular changes related to long-term health and aging.”
The study found that two of the compounds were detected in 95% of participants, and higher levels were linked to faster biological aging in men ages 50–64. (iStock)
Midlife may represent a more sensitive biological period, when the body becomes more vulnerable to age-related stressors, according to the researchers.
Lifestyle factors, such as smoking, may influence biological aging markers, potentially increasing vulnerability to environmental pollutants.
While Li said “people should not panic,” she does recommend looking for reasonable ways to reduce exposure.
That might mean checking local drinking water reports, using certified water filters designed to reduce PFAS, and limiting the use of stain- or grease-resistant products when alternatives are available.
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Meaningful reductions in PFAS exposure will likely depend on broader regulatory action and environmental cleanup efforts, Li added.
The researchers noted that midlife could be a particularly sensitive stage, when the body is more susceptible to stressors associated with aging. (iStock)
Study limitations
The researchers outlined several important limitations of the research, including that the findings show an association, but do not prove that PFAS directly causes accelerated aging.
“The study is cross-sectional, meaning exposure and aging markers were measured at the same time, so we cannot determine causality,” Li told Fox News Digital.
The study was also relatively small, limited to 326 adults age 50 or older, which means the findings may not apply to younger people or broader populations.
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Researchers measured PFAS levels using data collected between 1999 and 2000, and today’s exposure patterns may differ.
Li added that while PFAS is known to persist in the environment and the body, these results should be validated through larger, more recent studies that follow participants over time.
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A drug that has long been used to treat seizures has shown promise as a potential means of Alzheimer’s prevention, a new study suggests.
The anti-seizure medication, levetiracetam, was first approved by the FDA in November 1999 under the brand name Keppra as a therapy for partial-onset seizures in adults. The approval has since expanded to include children and other types of seizures.
Northwestern University researchers recently found that levetiracetam prevented the formation of toxic amyloid beta peptides, which are small protein fragments in the brain that are commonly seen in Alzheimer’s patients.
The medication was found to prevent the formation of amyloid-beta 42 in both animal models and cultured human neurons, according to the study findings, which were published in Science Translational Medicine.
The effect was also seen in post-mortem human brain tissue obtained from individuals with Down syndrome, who are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
The medication was found to prevent the formation of amyloid-beta 42 in both animal models and cultured human neurons. (iStock)
“While many of the Alzheimer’s drugs currently on the market, such as lecanemab and donanemab, are approved to clear existing amyloid plaques, we’ve identified this mechanism that prevents the production of the amyloid‑beta 42 peptides and amyloid plaques,” said corresponding author Jeffrey Savas, associate professor of behavioral neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a press release.
“Our new results uncovered new biology while also opening doors for new drug targets.”
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The brain is better able to avoid the pathway that produces toxic amyloid‑beta 42 proteins in younger years, but the aging process gradually weakens that ability, Savas noted.
“This is not a statement of disease; this is just a part of aging. But in brains developing Alzheimer’s, too many neurons go astray, and that’s when you get amyloid-beta 42 production,” he said.
The effect was also seen in post-mortem human brain tissue obtained from individuals with Down syndrome, who are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease. (iStock)
That then leads to tau (“tangles”) — abnormal clumps of protein inside brain neurons — which can kill brain cells, trigger neuroinflammation and lead to dementia.
In order for levetiracetam to function as an Alzheimer’s blocker, high-risk patients would have to start taking it “very, very early,” Savas said — up to 20 years before elevated amyloid-beta 42 levels would be detected.
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“You couldn’t take this when you already have dementia, because the brain has already undergone a number of irreversible changes and a lot of cell death,” the researcher noted.
The researchers also did a deep dive into previous human clinical data to determine whether Alzheimer’s patients who were taking the anti-seizure drug had slower cognitive decline. They reported that the patients in that category had a “significant delay” in the span from cognitive decline to death compared to those not taking the drug.
“This analysis supports the positive effect of levetiracetam to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s pathology,” the researcher said. (iStock)
“Although the magnitude of change was small (on the scale of a few years), this analysis supports the positive effect of levetiracetam to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s pathology,” Savas said.
Looking ahead, the research team aims to find people who have genetic forms of Alzheimer’s to participate in testing, Savas said.
Limitations and caveats
The study had several limitations, including that it relied on animal models and cultured cells, with no human trials conducted.
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Because the study was observational in nature, it can’t prove that the medication caused the prevention of the toxic brain proteins, the researchers acknowledged.
Savas noted that levetiracetam “is not perfect,” cautioning that it breaks down in the body very quickly.
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The team is currently working to create a “better version” that would last longer in the body and “better target the mechanism that prevents the production of the plaques.”
“You couldn’t take this when you already have dementia, because the brain has already undergone a number of irreversible changes and a lot of cell death.”
The medication’s common documented side effects include drowsiness, weakness, dizziness, irritability, headache, loss of appetite and nasal congestion.
It has also been linked to potential mood and behavior changes, including anxiety, depression, agitation and aggression, according to the prescribing information. In rare cases, it could lead to severe allergic reactions, skin reactions, blood disorders and suicidal ideation.
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Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.
Fox News Digital reached out to the drug manufacturer and the researchers for comment.
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