Television acts like a painkiller for children

Although most of the parents know that watching TV kills the kids’ imagination, a new study shows that watching TV can be soothing for the children and act as a painkiller.

This study was small and it included 69 children aged 7-12 who were supposed to have their blood samples taken. The children were divided into three groups. Children from the first group were distracted by their mothers by talking to them and trying to calm them down, the second group children were watching cartoons on TV while having their blood samples taken, and the third group was not distracted at all.
After the procedure, both children and mothers were asked to rate the pain while having the blood taken out. Both groups, mothers and children, reported the least pain felt when watching TV and the worst pain when not being distracted at all.

Researchers report that feeling pain is very stressful for children and that the children should be calmed and distracted even during minimal procedures. Like the study showed, it seems that watching TV is more soothing that the active distraction by the family. Watching TV also increased their pain tolerance.