Watching TV Increases Your Risk of Early Death
As if NBC's Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien fiasco wasn't enough to get you to turn off your TV for a while, a new study finds that watching TV increases your risk of early death.
Couch potatoes beware, every hour spent watching TV daily increases your risk of dying from heart disease by 18 percent. Spend an average of four or more hours a day in front of the tube? You could be upping your risk by a whopping 80 percent.
The study, which was published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, found that it's not just heart disease, either. Participants in the study were also at a significantly higher risk of dying from cancer and stroke. In fact, an hour a day in front of the TV increased the risk of death from all causes by over 10 percent.
But, it's not the TV that's the problem, it's the position you take when you watch it. So, Facebookers, office workers, and anyone else who spends their day sitting is on this list, too.
Lead researcher Professor David Dunstan, of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Victoria, Australia told The Independent:
What has happened is that a lot of the normal activities of daily living that involved standing up and moving the muscles in the body have been converted to sitting. Technological, social, and economic changes mean that people don't move their muscles as much as they used to - consequently the levels of energy expenditure as people go about their lives continue to shrink. For many people, on a daily basis they simply shift from one chair to another - from the chair in the car to the chair in the office to the chair in front of the television.
TV habits are easy enough to change. Cut down the time you watch your favorite shows, or watch them from the comfort of your stationary bike while pedaling.
But, if you're job requires you to sit eight or ten hours a day, you'll need to be creative to work movement into your day. Here are a few tips:
1. Reduce your chair time
Once an hour get up and stretch your legs. Deliver email messages by hand, go get a drink or use the restroom on another floor (and take the stairs), or if you've got regular break time, take a quick walk around the block.
2. Workout at work
Make office exercises a part of your regular routine.
3. Remember the old standbys
They're repeated so often for a reason -- take the stairs, not the elevator; walk or bike to work when you can; and walk during your lunch hour.
4. Stand up!
Even the act of getting on your feet is an improvement over sitting. Resist the urge to sit whenever possible, and stay on your feet and fidget instead.
5. Make good use of your free time
After spending your whole day sitting, use your after work time making up for it. If you must turn your TV on, at least turn it to a fitness DVD and get some exercise.
Will the findings from this study change your TV or work habits, so that you reduce your sitting time?
No, watching TV does not increase your risk of anything.
Increased TV watching is correlated with higher mortality rate.
Correlation does not equal causation.
ReplyThanks for posting this. I like point number 4, Stand up! I'm going to be more conscience of how much I sit sit sit all day.
ReplyEh. Not so much, actually. The study was correlation, not causation - so one can't make a causal statement. And I'd argue that it's not necessarily the television doing the damage. I think it's more likely it's the low-activity lifestyle and munching that tends to go along with television watching.
A better study would've compared sitting tv watchers with non-sitting tv watchers (like how I watch tv when I run). Better yet, an experiment. :)
Okay, I'll take off my social scientist hat now. XD
ReplyI disagree with this study because I tend to watch most of my TV while I'm exercising. I like to work out on my elliptical while watching my favorite shows before I go to work. Since I typically work swing shift, I can watch Rachael Ray or Martha Stewart before heading out the door. And when I get to work, I do NOT sit on my behind the whole time. I am pretty much constantly standing up and/or walking around. When I get home, I spend maybe an hour sitting on the couch decompressing before I go to bed. So yeah, I suppose I'm not the "typical" TV watcher!
ReplyYeah, as someone with a social science degree who's in shape and spends a lot of time with TV (as do any number of pro athletes in their down time and my 92 year old great grandmother), this "study" is both insulting and incredibly irresponsible.
It wouldn't meet any of the criteria for a legitimate study if put in front of a journal committee.
ReplyAh, it's the oversimplified nature of the blogger's retelling that is ridiculous, not the study itself.
Gotcha.
ReplyI don't think the study results can, or were trying to, relate to everyone, but for the people who spent as much as eight hours per day glued to their television screens, I think these results are at the very least interesting.
ReplyWhy not just start moving through the day with a treadmill desk like the TrekDesk?
ReplyI'm almost 8 years in using desktop computer that is using CRT monitor, from 2004 - present my time in hanging with it is 8-15 hrs a day, I think i need to stop using CRT monitor :(.
Replyagreed. TV can contribute to sedentary lifestyle.
ReplyYes I know sitting on sofa watching can not be good when a person does it too much in a day - it's all about good old "moderation" I usually have tv on for background noise, unless there is a movie on a good sitcom I want to see, but I usually watch tv with my legs up on a stool because I have that condition were my ankles get swollen if I sit too long - they sure get swollen when I am at work as I work as a typist 35 hours aweek - I try to make sure I walk to the "far" end of the office floor every 90 minutes or so - so when I do get up my feet and ankles do not feel like lead bricks!!
ReplyYes I know sitting on sofa watching can not be good when a person does it too much in a day - it's all about good old "moderation" I usually have tv on for background noise, unless there is a movie on a good sitcom I want to see, but I usually watch tv with my legs up on a stool because I have that condition were my ankles get swollen if I sit too long - they sure get swollen when I am at work as I work as a typist 35 hours aweek - I try to make sure I walk to the "far" end of the office floor every 90 minutes or so - so when I do get up my feet and ankles do not feel like lead bricks!!
ReplyThis is really sobering!
ReplyI got a great alternative! To keep myself active while watching TV I brought my Road bike indoors and hooked it up to a indoor bicycle Trainer. I slowly increased from 10 min a day to 1 hour a day and lost 30 Pounds! If the TV Doesn't keep you Entertained you should listen to some GOOD workout music! I recommend Pandora.com. Its Free Music to your taste.
ReplyHi,
ReplyDon't you guys read the article? It says of course tv is not the cause of early mortality, so it must be the POSITION!!! Hello! Anyone out there reading?
I like all things pickled about Posture while we sit on the chair at workplace. I seriously gonna use your tips. Great Job
Reply