It’s a dangerous world out there. If you’re not afraid of being eaten by a shark or burning up in a fiery plane crash, there’s the chances of being hit by a car, getting cancer from mobile phone radiation. You should be scared. Even more so now that Australian and French researchers are claiming that watching TV will increase the risk of you dying young.
According to an article in The Australian today by Leigh Dayton, even people who exercise regularly are at risk of premature death from heart disease. Apparently the “risk of premature death from heart disease by 18 per cent for each hour spent in front of the box”.
After dividing the 8800 people in the trial into three groups (less than 2 hours of TV a day, 2-4 hours of TV a day and more than 4 hours of TV a day), the study found that people who watched more than four hours a day had a 46% higher risk of early death and an 80% higher chance of dying from heart disease.
So ultimately, you should know that your TV will kill you. Of course, we’re all going to die anyway, so why not enjoy your life while you’ve got it?
Glenn Fairbairn
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:00 PMLet’s not forget the correlation between sedentary behaviour and junk-food intake – people who watch more TV are more likely to chow down on snack foods during their dose of back-to-back Simpsons re-runs on Fox. I can’t remember the reference, but the paper exists.
Elly Hart
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:05 PMThere’s also a paper which says you burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV. I often fall asleep in front of the TV, so I figure it cancels out.
Still, we all have to die of something!
Shane
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:01 PMConsidering all the crap that’s on, we’re probably been border to death!
Seriously, with all these new HD channels, you’d think we’d be able to find something to watch…not my wife and I switch the TV off over the weekend from lack of anything worth watching and went out…maybe there’s a conspiracy at work here???
Nathan Young
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:14 PMWell if sitting in front of a screen per hour increases likelihood of heart disease by 18% I’m guaranteed to die very very young.
I’m easily distracted from my university study, so I probably sit in front of my computer screen 10-12 in a day.
The only exercise I get is the 10 hours of shelf stacking at Safeway a week, oops
Glenn Fairbairn
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:18 PMAw cmon Shane, surely you love infinite repeats of the Flintstones, Jetsons and Seinfeld. And lets not forget the entertainment goldmine that is NASCAR racing and American football!
ThePengwin
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:21 PMBecause we all know TVs are physically capable of murder. Oh wait..
This is just another PEBKAC issue, without the keyboard.
lostincanberra
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:38 PMHmmm… I’m inclined to suggest that it is the reading of all the seemingly contradictory quasi-lifestyle advice that reduces life expectancy.
‘Red wine is good for you’
‘No, it isn’t!’
‘Well, it is in certain very specific cases…’
And still, life expectancy continues to grow by close to three months every year! According to the ABS, over the past 20 years life expectancy at birth has improved by 6.1 years for males and 4.2 years for females.
Of course, it is probably just crappy programming that is at the root of this phenomenon. There must be an ARC grant that can be put to good use proving/disproving this hypothesis!
Frederick Lenz
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 12:40 PMSo what exactly is it that causes the problem. They just say it is bad for you but does not outline what the exact problem or ways to make tv watching healthier.
Aaron
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 6:37 PMThis is a quote from the article “The unhealthy consequence of sitting hour after hour is a limited muscle movement. “Our muscles aren’t moving, we’re not burning energy and we’re disrupting our normal regulatory processes,” Dr Dunstan said.”
All I can say to that is what about people who sit behind desks for 8 hours a day 7 days a week does this mean that we can start to sue our workplaces or claim health benefits ??