Time to better screen kids' screen time

PARIS - Only one in 20 children in the United States meets recommended health guidelines on sleep, exercise and screen time, and nearly a third are outside of the advised levels for all three, according to a study published recently.

On average, children ages 8 to 11 spent 3.6 hours per day glued to a TV, mobile phone, tablet or computer screen, nearly double the suggested limit of two hours, researchers found.

Too little sleep and excess screen time were clearly linked to a drop-off in cognitive skills, such as language ability, memory and task completion, according to the report, published by The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.