Diary of an academic mum

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Last week I wrote about the physical health impacts of high screen time on children. This is the third post in a series of posts on children’s screen time and will involve examining some of the psychological health risks associated with screen time. I did a quick search and found hundreds of studies on screen time and child health, dozens of which were review-level (some of the best evidence you can get). I looked at some of the highest quality review-level evidence to inform this post. Basically, if I found high-quality review-level evidence to support relationships between health and screen time then I was pretty confident that the relationships exist. Let’s have a look at what the research I found has to say about the psychological health risks associated with screen time for kids. I will use a three-part system ( 'confident', 'hmm maybe' and 'unlikely' ) to indicate how confident I am...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). Last week I wrote an introduction to sedentary and screen time . This is the second post in a series of posts on children’s screen time and will involve examining some of the physical health risks associated with screen time. Parents often worry that their children are spending too long watching screens. Screen time involves time spent with various devices, such as laptops, desktop computers, game consoles, smartphones, tablets, TVs and anything else I have forgotten to mention and that you are probably holding right now. Screens dominate our lives, making life both easier and more entertaining. However, there might be risks associated with using them too much, making them dangerous for the health of our kids. Image 1: Are TVs really dangerous? (credit: The Imaginative Conservative ) I did a quick search and found hundreds of studies on screen time and child health, dozens of which were review-level (some of the bes...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). I am often asked for my thoughts on the effects of sedentary behaviour, like screen time, on health. I often hear parents worry about the amount of screen time, like TV watch or video game playing, their children get and the effects on their health. They hear from family, friends and the media that screen time is bad for kids and so they feel guilty allowing their children to interact with screens, despite their large and important role in today's society. I thought I'd do some research to see if screen time is really that bad for kids and, if it is, what we (as parents) can feasibly do to reduce it's effects. This is post 1 of a five-part series on the potential impacts of screen time on children. What is screen time? Screen time involves a child interacting or simply watching a screen, other than for video chatting (e.g. Skype), and is a type of sedentary behaviour. Sedentary behaviour is classified as ...

Dr Breanne Kunstler (BBiomedSci, BHealthSci, MPhysio, PhD). This is the third post in a three-part series discussing my desire to return to work (see post 1 and 2 ). I explored my reasons for returning to work in my previous post . This post will explore the fears I have when it comes to returning to work and being able to ‘do it all’. My fears One third of Australian parents are worried or anxious about returning to work , with two thirds worrying about their wellbeing (Image 1). Image 1: Findings from the National Working Families Report 2019 (credit: APLEN ) Based on those figures, it seems that lots of parents are apparently cool cucumbers about returning to work. I call bullshit and think that all parents would feel some worry about the transition. We’re parents, worrying is what we do best. Image 2: No parent is this chilled during the transition back to work after parental leave, surely! (credit: VectorStock ) Here are some of the thing...