Energy Express by Marilynn Preston

Have you heard? Those best-selling "Baby Einstein" videos will not make your baby choose calculus over patty cake. Darn. In fact, all those "Baby Mozart" and "Baby Shakespeare" pseudo-educational videos are messing with your baby's vulnerable and developing brain in a way that is absolutely alarming, according to the team of public health lawyers who recently made their case privately to the Walt Disney Co.

The lawyers threatened a class-action lawsuit based on "false and deceptive claims" about the benefits of the "Baby Einstein" brand, and the Mouseketeers are now in damage-control mode, offering full refunds to anyone who bought a "Baby Einstein" video in the last five years.

That's a whole lot of people. The "Baby Einstein" brand has been wildly successful since it started in 1997, controlling 90 percent of the baby media market (according to Tamar Lewin in The New York Times), selling $200 million worth of products annually.

But now, thanks to the efforts of a relentless and feisty nonprofit called the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, companies like Walt Disney and Brainy Baby are being held accountable for the consequences of their commercialism.

What consequences? This is the part that makes this column a scary Halloween special. Not only are baby videos not helpful when it comes to early childhood development, they are actually harmful.

Studies that were part of the public health lawyer's case against Disney showed that kids who were exposed to TV at ages 1 through 3 were significantly more likely to have attention problems at age 7. We know that autism and attention deficit disorders are skyrocketing. TV or not TV?

The American Academy of Pediatrics has reviewed the data and recommends that kids under two should spend ZERO time watching small-screen media. Would you even think of buying another "Baby Einstein" video if that warning were written on the package? Think zero — rhymes with hero.

So all of this got me thinking: If the "Baby Einstein" marketing claims are false and deceptive, what other myths and misconceptions persist when it comes to our well being? Here are some of my favorites:

— Skipping breakfast is a good way to lose weight.

This is hogwash, but people believe it anyway. Your body is smarter than you are. It needs at least three healthy meals a day, and if you don't start it off with a good breakfast, you're going to screw up your metabolism, your hormones and all your dreams about a leaner body and stronger immune system.

— Six hours of sleep is enough. Don't count on it. Many people try to function on too little sleep and would feel better, weigh less, and have more energy and fewer mood-swings if they got eight hours of sleep a night. Catnaps count . A 20-minute lie-down a day can work wonders.

— Longevity is determined by genetics. Absolutely untrue. The biggest influence on how long you live, and how happy and healthy you are, is personal lifestyle. That means the choices you make about the amount of exercise you do, the food you eat, the community you live in, and how much time you take for close meaningful relationships with family and friends. Bottom line? As you age, your sense of purpose is a helluva lot more important than your cholesterol count.

— Drink eight glasses of water a day. You can't kill this one with a stick, but slowly, people are catching on to the fact that the amount of water you need depends on your own body chemistry, and what other food and drink you consume during the day. Yes, it's important to stay hydrated, but for some people, that happens with four glasses of water a day.

— The best way to burn fat is to work out on an empty stomach. Bad practice! Anti-good health! If you don't give your body the proper fuel it needs when you ask it to lift weights, or run 5 miles, it will burn muscle, not fat. Not good.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! THE BRAIN BEHIND THE BIG REFUND

"We see it as an acknowledgement by the leading baby video company that baby videos are not educational, and we hope other baby media companies will follow suit by offering refunds." — Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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