Children Health and Computers

Study says that children are particularly at risk .Computer-related injuries reported in US hospitals rose between 1994 and 2006. The number of serious accidents rose 732 per cent over the period. The study, by researchers in Columbus, Ohio, was reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

In Britain, computer-related accidents in the home rose from around 800 in 1995 to more than 1,800 in 1999 and 2,100 in 2002 - the latest figures available. Since then the figures are thought to have shot up dramatically as home computers become increasingly popular.

Others were caused by badly designed desk layouts, or equipment falling on its owner.

Some of the patients suffered from bangs to the head after equipment fell on them. Others were hurt clothes were snagged on sharp corners or when they tripped on cables.

Playing computer games for more than seven hours a week can alter your biological clock, leaving you sleep-deprived and open to a host of health problems, U.S. scientists have warned. Doctors believe the bright light of a computer screen may suppress the hormone melatonin which helps regulate the normal sleep-wake cycle.