Watching TV shortens life span

[Cruzan]

Australian researchers find that each hour a day spent in front of television is linked with an 18% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and an 11% greater risk of all causes of death.

Watching television for hour upon hour obviously isn't the best way to spend leisure time -- inactivity has been linked to obesity and heart disease. But a new study quantifies TV viewing's effect on risk of death.

Researchers found that each hour a day spent watching TV was linked with an 18% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, an 11% greater risk of all causes of death, and a 9% increased risk of death from cancer.

The study, released Monday in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Assn., looked at health data among 8,800 men and women older than 25 who were part of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study. Participants recorded their television viewing hours for a week, and researchers separated the results by amount of viewing: those who watched less than two hours of TV a day, those who watched two to four hours a day, and those who watched more than four hours a day.

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[boobooday]

1. I want to see an identical study on Internet use!

Inquiring minds want to know!

[HereSince1628]

3. I had the same thought...all day in the basement in pj's reading

about 'morans' must be bad for heart, lungs, eyes, and the brain. Series !111!!


:rofl:

[treestar]

8. Or even reading. that is sedentary, too

[lukasahero]

12. It's in there

"avoiding long periods of sitting, such as spending long hours in front of the computer screen.""

[tularetom]

2. Best news I've heard all day

I should live for friggin ever then, because I rarely watch the thing. Football playoffs, the occasional Countdown or Rachel Maddow, and Mythbusters - that's about it for me.

[high density]

4. ??

People who watched more than four hours a day showed an 80% greater risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 46% higher risk of all causes of death compared with those who watched fewer than two hours a day, suggesting that being sedentary could have general deleterious effects.

"What we showed was that irrespective of a person's exercise level, sitting for four or more hours watching television was linked to a significant increase in risk of death compared to watching lower amounts of TV," said Dr. David Dunstan, lead author of the study and professor and head of the Physical Activity Laboratory at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Victoria, Australia. "The message here is that in addition to promoting regular exercise, we also need to promote avoiding long periods of sitting, such as spending long hours in front of the computer screen."

OK, so what are the effects of being sedentary for 40 hours a week at work? Everybody must have a huge risk of death!

[CBR]

5. I will croak at 40 then because I watch alot of TV --

mostly sports, C-Span and movies. At the same time, I spend alot of time on the Internet so I may pass even earlier.

[Silent3]

6. Correlation, not causation.

The study shows that extra TV watching is linked to health problems, not that it causes them.

The likely cause of these health problems is lack of physical activity. Perhaps there is a causal element, like snacking while watching TV, or that television might lure people into inactivity when they'd otherwise choose to do something more vigorous. However, there are plenty of other sedentary distractions in this world, and it could well be that TV watching is simply one of the most popular diversions for people who wouldn't be exercising a whole lot anyway.

Yet we get "Watching TV shortens life span" as the title of the OP. There seems to be an irrestible urge to "punch up" and oversimplify scientific information, no patience for the apparently far too subtle distinction between correlation and causation.

[Rowdyboy]

7. I should have died back in 1985 then......

What a joke

[ThatsMyBarack]

9. No problem.

I didn't want to get old anyway! :)

[pipi_k]

10. Oh, for Petes sake....

It's not TV. It's inactivity.

One could have a higher risk for cardiovascular disease just by sitting in a chair staring out the window. Or sitting in the rocker on the front porch doing crossword puzzles all damned day.


Why don't these idiots just say what they mean instead of being misleading?


:eyes:

[rurallib]

11. No, no - it is the stupid that TV causes

people want to pretend to fly to get a tape on funniest videos. Or they shoot up some liberal church to make Smilin' Sean happy.

[dysfunctional press]

13. but it makes it more entertaining...and nobody lives forever.

i likes my tv watching time.

[Mari333]

14. I think that just means sitting on your ass decreases lifespan

if you watch TV whilst jogging you will be okay.