(BBC, Kevin Buckley in Milan, Published: 2004/06/28 15:33:55 GMT)
Italian researchers found children denied access to television for just one week experienced a 30% jump in their melatonin levels.
The hormone is thought to prevent the early onset of puberty.
If confirmed, this would be the first sign of a direct physiological impact on television watching upon the young. ...
Yes, namely, being a key ingredient in the concoction of an oversexed culture like ours. You've got kids watching images of sex and violence, meanwhile simultaneously accelerating their pubescence. Lovely.
Our hypothesis is that the light and radiation coming from exposure to television screens, and computer screens, disturbs this production of the hormone. ...
In humans, the hormone regulates the body's internal 'clock'. Levels are at their lowest in the daylight hours, but peak in the evening around eight o'clock as the body prepares for a night's sleep. ...
Incidentally, one reason chocolate is so popular during winter is because chocolate increases serotonin production, thus "waking" people out of the dreary "winter depression" that little sunlight induces.
The phenomenon of precocious puberty - when children develop the first signs of puberty earlier than the normal ages of ten for girls and eleven-and-a-half for boys - is increasing all over the western world. ...
Now, according to Professor Salti, some children enter puberty as young as seven. ...
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