Screen time: health professionals
As a health professional, you can help your clients reduce their sedentary behaviour (including screen time) and increase their physical activity. It is very likely that your clients are already looking to you for guidance about their health-related behaviours, so you are in an optimal position to influence their choice
Have the conversation
One way of supporting individuals to increase their physical activity and decrease their sedentary behaviours is to have a conversation about their “whole day”, using a 24-hour clock. Adding up the amount of time spent on sleep, physical activity (participation in moderate to vigorous activity), followed by reviewing their behaviours over the remaining about of time will help you and your client gain a better understanding of a regular day.
Many individuals participate in large amounts of sedentary behaviours and research show that many children, youth and adults spend several hours participating in recreational screen-time daily.
How much screen time is too much?
The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology developed 24-hour movement guidelines for all ages. The guidelines provide recommendations on physical activity sleep, and sedentary behaviours including the use of screens. The guidelines suggest:
- no screen time at all for infants and toddlers under 2 years of age
- no more than 1 hour per day of screen time for children 2 to 4 years of age
- no more than 2 hours per day of recreational screen time for children and youth 5 to 17 years
- no more than 3 hours of recreational screen time for adults 18 to 64 years and older
The 4Ms of screen time
Assist your clients to make goals that will help them meet the recommendations. The less time spent in front of screens, the greater the benefit. A great way to help them set goals is to encourage them to use the 4 Ms (minimize, mitigate the risk, be mindful, and model healthy screen use) from the Canadian Pediatric Society.
MINIMIZE screen time by reducing the amount of time spent in front of a screen. Replace sedentary screen time with physical activity.
MITIGATE (reduce) the risks associated with screen time. It’s important that parents and caregivers are aware of the child’s screen selection and time.
Be MINDFUL (more intentional) when using screens. Think about the quality of the material you are viewing on screens and their impact on health. Think about ways you can replace screen-time with active time.
MODEL healthy screen use. Encourage and participate in activities unrelated to screens, such as reading, outdoor play, puzzles, drawing, and crafts.
The 4 Ms support healthy, active lifestyles, particularly for people who might spend a lot of time in front of screens.
Useful resources
- The Canadian Paediatric Society developed tools and resources for clinicians such as counselling guides, position statements, posters and presentations.
- Active Kids, Healthy Kids is a Canadian Paediatric Society program to help paediatricians, family physicians, and other health professionals promote physical activity, nutrition, and other healthy choices.
- The Child Nature Alliance of Canada’s ‘Risk Benefit Assessment Toolkit’ fosters a balanced approach to risk and safety.
This item was last modified on December 20, 2024