BALANCE IT OUT!

We’ve all spent a lot of time on devices and in front of TVs in lockdown. ANDY BROOKS finds out how to achieve a healthier balance

IF THERE’S been one saving grace during lockdown it has to be our screens. For most of us our televisions, tablets, computers and game consoles have never seen so much use. And for good reason, they are perfect for entertaining the kids, a God-send when it comes to home schooling and working from home, and pretty much essential when it comes to finding ways to fill your days while you are social distancing.

The problem is, the more time we spend on our screens, the less time we’re likely to be moving and exercising – which isn’t doing our health any good, especially when under ‘normal’ circumstances we are rushing around for a huge part of the day.

So, after three months of near constant screen time – how much is too much?

THERE aren’t any official guidelines to follow when it comes to how much time we should spend on screens. What we do know is that sitting still for long periods of time isn’t good for your health, it can slow your metabolism, affect your posture, underutilise our muscle groups causing them to weaken. It can even affect our social skills.

So, trying to balance how much time we sit still and how much time we are active is a great starting point to make sure you and your family don’t fall foul of too much sitting.

Why not encourage the kids to go and have a kick about in the garden for every hour they spend on the screen, or go out for a walk or trip to the park before the screens are turned on for the day.

You could also play hide and seek with the remote control or iPad to encourage them to get moving before they settle down – just don’t make it too easy!

If you have older kids you might like to reward them with screen time for doing other things, such as washing the car, going on an errand or cleaning their rooms. Anything that gets their heart pumping and makes them feel warmer will be doing them good!

USE SCREENS FOR GOOD

OF course using screens doesn’t have to mean sitting still.

There’s a whole plethora of online