TV Shortens Your Life by 22 Minutes for Every Hour Watched
Watching too much television could shorten your lifespan, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
For every hour of television a person watches, their life is shortened by almost 22 minutes, stated experts from the University of Queensland, in Brisbane. The study also concluded that after the age of 25, watching television for six hours a day could cut a person’s lifespan by almost five years.
The nature of a chronic television watcher is that physical activity levels drop dramatically. This type of lifestyle can be more deadly than smoking cigarettes, the study indicates.
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Smoking one cigarette can cut 11 minutes off a person’s life, according to another recent study.
“TV viewing time may be associated with a loss of life that is comparable to other major chronic disease risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity,” the study said.
It analyzed the lifestyles of more than 11,000 people in Australia, combined with trends and death rates.
Trends of television watching in other countries with high rates of heart disease and strokes, usually caused by people being sedentary, are sure to match the Australian data, according to the study.
In another study published Tuesday by medical journal The Lancet, 15 minutes of daily activity could increase a person’s lifespan by three years.
Three common negative issues associated with television watching include the risk of developing diabetes, excessive weight gain and headaches and back pain.
Three other recent studies concluded that prolonged television watching could increase your chances of getting Type 2 diabetes, along with gaining weight from snacking in front of the tube and developing back pain and headaches from too much screen-based activity.
The weight gain study, also conducted in Australia, showed that the more time someone spent in front of the television, the bigger their waistline got.
