The Damage of Your Senior Watching Too Much TV

Like many things in life, TV in and of itself is not a bad thing.

It can provide a great resource for connecting with the world around you, help you learn about new cultures/ideas/histories, and provide entertainment to help you relax and unwind. But also like many other things, TV in excess can have some negative health effects, especially to your elderly parent.

Elderly Care in South Fork NY: Watching Too Much TV

Studies have shown that the number of hours watched per day, plus the number of hours spent being physically active is the indicator of when too much TV is being consumed by your parent. If you or your elder care provider have noticed that your parent is watching more than 3.5 hours of TV a day, plus getting less than 3 hours of physical activity into his week, you might also start to notice some of the following health issues. Even if you haven’t noticed any of these issues yet, it’s best to help your parent find other ways to spend his time if TV seems to always be his first choice.

Memory Decline

As TV viewing goes up, memory seems to go down. Older people who watch more than 3.5 hours of TV a day have a harder time remembering everyday things like names and places. If you and your elder care provider have noticed that your parent is forgetting conversations or having a harder time than normal remembering names, it could have a lot of reasons, but watching endless hours of television is not helping.

Verbal Skills

Since watching TV is a passive activity where the television provides all of the conversation and all of the engaging, people who watched too many hours of TV a day tend to have a decline in their verbal activity. They lose the ability to engage in meaningful conversations that require a give-and-take. Excessive TV watching can cause the consumer to expect all conversations to be scripted and will not understand how to discuss an idea with someone of a different opinion.

Physical Health

It goes without saying that sitting for hours is not good for one’s health. If your parent spends endless hours in his recliner or on the couch binging on TV series or watching newscast after newscast, you might notice that she is having a harder time doing simple physical activities like climbing the stairs or taking the dog for a walk. While your elder care provider can help with these chores, it’ll help your parent maintain her independence by being able to at least participate in these activities.

Cognitive Stress

The intense and fast-changing aspect of TV can cause a lot of mental stress on your parent’s brain. Watching news stations that continually report on the bad state of affairs or watching TV series about murders and violence, puts the brain in a sort of state of limbo as it registers the stress, but your parent’s body is passively sitting in his seat, not indicating that there is any type of actual stress going on.

Television watching doesn’t have to be completely eliminated, but help your parent to be more aware of what she is watching, when she is watching, and why she is watching TV. From there, she can whittle down her hours in front of the television so that the time spent watching TV is reduced and healthier.

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring Elderly Care in South Fork, NY, call the caring staff at Artful Home Care today at 631-685-5001.

Source:

https://www.brainandlife.org/the-magazine/online-exclusives/neurology-news-watching-too-much-tv-is-linked-to-poorer-memory-in-older-adults/