Welcome to Running: A FEVER, a show about fitness, diet, and medicine. I’m Michael Davis, and my goal is to live a long, happy, healthy, active life right up to the very end. It’s all about livin’ long and lovin’ life. If that’s what you’re into, this is the place for you!
As usual, when I’m finding topics for the show, I started hearing about how screen time should be limited and maybe we should all be wearing glasses that block out “blue light.” Why? There are screens everywhere now. At work, you have at least one, maybe more, computer screens; I have three. Plus the smartphone, which goes everywhere with you. How about the TV you turn on when you get home from work? Even when working out, we have screens on our exercise bikes or treadmills that show us stats or video that lets us imagine we’re outside somewhere, or let us watch the news while we sweat. Maybe your kids play video games for hours on end. Screens are everywhere, and we use them because we think they are helpful or entertaining. So they have just become a part of life. They are ubiquitous. However, if there is something unhealthy about them, it could impact our whole lives, and the impact could be significant. So I set about digging into this concept and trying to find out the real deal.
In this series, we’re diving deep into the hidden costs of screen time — not just the obvious ones, but the ones that quietly shape our bodies, minds, relationships, and routines. We’ll explore how screens affect our physical health, sleep, brain function, family dynamics, and most importantly, our time. You’ll hear from experts in neuroscience, wellness, and digital behavior, along with real stories from people trying to find balance in a screen-saturated world. It’s about awareness, empowerment, and reclaiming control over how we live, connect, and rest.
Episode 1 is about “The Sedentary Trap.” How prolonged screen time contributes to reduced physical activity and metabolic slowdown, increased risk of heart disease, obesity, and insulin resistance, and the link between screen habits and poor posture or chronic pain
In episode 2, it’s “Screens vs. Sleep.” We’ll dive into the science of how screens disrupt sleep: blue light and melatonin suppression, sleep deprivation’s impact on mood, memory, and cardiovascular health, and tips for better sleep hygiene in a digital world.
Episode 3 is called “Digital Fog: What Screens Do to Your Brain.” We’ll unpack the cognitive effects: thinning of the cerebral cortex and reduced gray matter, impaired focus, memory, and decision-making, and screen addiction and its emotional toll
Episode 4 covers “Digital Distress in Families.” The focus will be on emotional and behavioral effects in kids and adults: tantrums, anxiety, and social withdrawal in children, how screen habits affect relationships and family dynamics, and strategies for setting healthy boundaries.
Finally comes episode 5: “Reclaiming Your Time.” Some practical solutions include the 20-20-20 rule for eye health, creating screen-free zones and routines, and mindful tech use and digital detox strategies.
So let’s get started. One significant negative impact of prolonged screen time is that it keeps you from doing anything else, especially physical activities. Remember my goal of having an active life? This is key.
A National Institutes of Health article says that Longitudinal studies have shown that sedentary screen time, especially TV viewing, increases the risk of children being overweight and obese…,” and that “…childhood screen time is a risk factor for adult obesity. Increased TV viewing among adults is positively associated with overweight and obesity, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and all-cause mortality.” That sounds pretty ominous.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV for children under 2, and no more than 2 hours per day for older children. But on average, children spend 7.2 hours per day just watching TV or playing video games. This doesn’t include work, school, or phone use. For adults, it’s 2.8 hours per day, about half of their leisure time.
The trend toward remote work offers interesting opportunities for studying the subject. According to IMS Magazine,
“A survey of 2,000 remote and hybrid workers in the United States conducted by the Upright Pose team revealed some alarming findings. Fifty-four percent of these workers estimated that they had reduced their mobility during work hours by 50% or more in the past year, with 63% reporting that they only walked to the bathroom or kitchen during a typical remote workday. While the flexibility of working from home is convenient and life-changing for many, prolonged inactivity can be problematic if one does not make an effort to exercise. Sitting for long periods, as many remote workers do, can increase the risk of developing blood clots, which can travel through the veins, block blood flow to the heart, and potentially cause a heart attack. Fortunately, physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour are modifiable risk factors, meaning that measures can be taken to reduce the chances of developing cardiovascular disease and other conditions. Taking proactive steps to ensure adequate daily physical activity can significantly improve your overall health and well-being. Your heart will thank you for it!”
“An increase in screen time (ST) is reportedly associated with insulin resistance and obesity in children,” according to the medical journal Diabetes. Insulin resistance is a complex condition in which your body doesn’t respond as it should to insulin, which is essential for regulating blood sugar levels. It’s also associated with obesity, cardiovascular disease, etc., which are all exacerbated by a sedentary lifestyle.
If your screen time is associated with inactivity, you’re missing out on all the benefits of exercise. These are not limited to decreased obesity and heart health. Exercise also reduces your risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and some kinds of cancer. Weight training exercises help strengthen bones and reduce the risk of fractures. Exercise helps build and maintain muscle mass, improving overall physical function. It reduces stress, improves sleep quality, enhances cognitive function, and increases self-esteem and body image. It improves immune function, energy levels, and extends lifespan. The list goes on and on. This should be no surprise. It’s key to one of the three things this show is all about: fitness.
Apart from the time-displacement aspect, there are other ways in which excessive screen time can make you more sedentary. Activities like gaming or scrolling overstimulate your brain’s reward pathways. This can make you less motivated to seek out activities that require more effort for a sense of reward, such as physical exercise. Also, the blue light emitted from screens can disrupt your body’s circadian rhythm by suppressing melatonin, the sleep hormone. Poor sleep quality can decrease your energy levels and willpower, making you less likely to want to exercise.
Mental fatigue is a byproduct of time spent using TV, computers, and smartphone devices. The constant stimulation can overload your sensory system and deplete your mental energy. This leaves you with less cognitive reserve to overcome the initial effort required to start a workout, particularly if you’re already feeling low on focus and motivation.
Social media can sometimes lead to unhealthy comparisons of oneself with others. The term you might have heard is “comparing your insides to someone else’s outsides.” The curated and often unrealistic fitness content on social media can be demotivating. Instead of feeling inspired, some people feel discouraged by constant comparisons to highly edited or unrealistic body ideals.
On this show, we’ve discussed at length the power of habit. Habits are powerful, and excessive screen time reinforces a sedentary lifestyle. The convenience and instant gratification of technology make it a strong competing habit against exercise, which often involves delayed gratification.
So how can we counteract the intrusion of screens into our goal of having an active life? The first way to do this is pretty apparent: limit your screen time. Establish screen-free time. Implement rules for yourself or your family, such as designating certain times (like dinnertime) or areas (like bedrooms) as screen-free.
Another way is to schedule exercise first. Plan and complete your workout before settling in for a long session of screen-based entertainment.
We can also leverage technology for good. Use apps and wearables to track your progress, participate in fitness challenges, or connect with supportive communities. For instance, a 2025 study found that active video game content can help motivate adolescents to exercise.
Finally, make it fun. Choose physical activities that you genuinely enjoy so that you are more intrinsically motivated to participate.
There are more solutions we’ll get into later in the series. I hope this episode has made you aware of how the use of TV, phone, computers, and other devices can have a profound impact on your physical fitness, and provided some ways to help you counteract this effect in your daily life.
Thanks for watching or listening. You can help the show reach more people by liking the video, subscribing to my channel on YouTube, and watching or listening to more of my over 400 past episodes. Until next time, if you’ve got the fever, keep it burning, and if you don’t, catch the fever, and I’ll see you next time on Running: A FEVER.
References:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9664246/
https://imsmagazine.com/2024/11/10/screen-time-and-sedentary-lifestyles-unmasking-the-risks-to-heart-health/
https://diabetesjournals.org/diabetes/article/69/Supplement_1/1988-P/57442/1988-P-Association-between-Screen-Time-Including
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22206-insulin-resistance
https://tinyurl.com/raf-benefits-of-exercise
https://tinyurl.com/raf-st-encourages-inactivity