Screen time is literally breaking kids’ hearts

Sitting in front of a screen is not just rotting kids’ brains — it’s doing a number on their arteries, too.

A European study on more than 5,200 children between the ages of 2 and 10 found that spending more than two hours a day in front of a screen increased their likelihood of having high blood pressure by 30 percent. If they also didn’t do any exercise or outdoor activities, or if they did but for less than an hour a day, that risk shot up to 50 percent.

The study followed the children for two years and found alarming rates of high blood pressure: 110 in 1,000. High blood pressure can go undetected for years, though it is damaging the heart and kidneys, and can eventually lead to a stroke or even heart attcks and kidney failure.

The toll of vegetating on the sofa in the not-so-soothing blue light of a screen isn’t limited to kids, or the heart. Details magazine just looked at the physical effects of binge-watching on your body, and it’s bad news from your brain to your legs.

What to do: Get moving! Getting active dilates the blood vessels, but you have to do more than a hour a day to see the benefits.

Eva Kis is on Twitter @thisiskis, where she talks about pop culture, cats and media almost as much as food.