Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead
A study in the American Heart Association journal Circulation finds that cardiovascular disease rates rise with average daily TV viewing times--even if you're physically fit. Adam Hinterthuer reports
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Attention, couch potatoes. Every hour spent on the sofa watching TV, whether it’s Iron Chef or Biggest Loser, is bad for your heart. Researchers tracked the viewing habits and health of nearly 9,000 adults to come up with the not-too-surprising finding, published in the journal Circulation. What’s alarming is just how bad being fused to your Lazyboy turns out to be.
For every hour glued to the boob tube each day, a participant's risk of death from cardiovascular disease shot up 18 percent. Viewers who tuned in daily for four hours or longer were 80 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease compared with people who watched TV for two hours or less each day.
And it didn't matter if the subjects were overweight smokers or vegetarian fitness fanatics—their risk rose with TV time. Because whether you’re watching TV, contemplating a computer screen or simply staring at the wall, sitting for long stretches negatively affects levels of blood sugar and fats. Fortunately, there is a win–win solution: your gym probably has a TV visible from the treadmill.
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