Is Watching TV Killing You?

Smoking one cigarette cuts 11 minutes off your lifespan – equivalent to half-an-hour of watching TV!

I’ve written my views on TV here. Did you know that the average American watches 5-hours of TV a day? Brits watch an average of 4-hours a day.

Full story here, bits below.

Every hour spent watching TV, DVDs and videos as an adult reduces life expectancy by almost 22 minutes, a study suggests.

And viewing TV for an average of six hours a day can cut short your life by five years.

The research claims that a sedentary lifestyle is as bad for health as smoking and obesity, because of the dangers posed by inactivity and the greater opportunities it offers for unhealthy eating.

Writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, they concluded: ‘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.’

Earlier this year, a separate study suggested the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease, or dying prematurely, rises by as much as 20 per cent after just two hours a day in front of the box.

Another study shows that exercising for just 15 minutes a day can increase your lifespan by up to three years.

It can reduce the risk of early death by 14 per cent, with each extra 15 minutes reducing all-cause death rates by 4 per cent.

Exercise also protects against cancer, although the benefits peak at 100 minutes a day, says the study in The Lancet medical journal.