More television watching in kids leads to larger waists, weaker legs

Television watching in children leads to larger waistlines and weaker bodies, says a new study.

Researchers at the Universite de Montreal found that each hour of television watched, kids' waistlines grow larger and their muscular fitness gets weaker.

The study specifically looked at explosive leg strength, reported CBS News, an indicator of athleticism and overall health.

To conduct the study, researchers tracked 1,314 kids between two and nearly 5-years-old.

Their parents were asked to note how many hours of television the children watched during the week and on weekends, said BBC.

With an average of about nine hours of television per week, researchers found that with age came more time in front of the tube.

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Medical News Today reported that they also found that a child's waist grew by just shy of half a millimeter (0.019 inches) for ever additional hour a child watched TV per week. 

The study also used a Strandard Long Jump test, in which the children were made to jump forward as far as they could.

Researchers found that for each hour of television watched, the children jumped 0.14 inches less in the Standing Long Jump than other children who watched less television.

That number increased as the child got older, suggesting that more television watching weakened the kids' bodies.

The study was published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.