Too Much TV May Have Deadly Toll

(WebMD)  Watch out, couch potatoes! A new study says that every hour of TV you watch daily may increase your risk of early death from cardiovascular disease.

Australian researchers, reporting in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, studied the lifestyle habits of 8,800 adults. They found that each hour spent watching television on a daily basis is associated with an 18% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

They also say an hour a day spent in front of the tube is associated
with:

• An 11% increased risk of death from all causes
• A 9% increased risk of cancer death


Human Body Needs to Move

The human body evolved to move, not sit still for extended periods of time, says David Dunstan, PhD, lead author of the study and head of the Physical Activity Laboratory at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Victoria, Australia. So sitting in front of a TV or a computer screen for too long poses serious risks to health, and to life, the researchers say.

"What has happened is that a lot of the normal activities of daily living that involved standing up and moving the muscles in the body have been converted to sitting," Dunstan says in a news release. "Technological, social, and economic changes mean that people don't move their muscles as much as they used to -- consequently the levels of energy expenditure as people go about their lives continue to shrink. For many people, on a daily basis, they simply shift from one chair to another, from the chair in the car to the chair in the office to the chair in front of the television."

Dunstan and his team of researchers looked at 3,846 men and 4,954 women ages 25 and older to find out what happens to people who sit too much. They were asked about their TV viewing habits and were grouped into one of three categories: people who watched less than two hours of TV daily, those who watched between two and four hours of television daily, and those who spent more than four hours in front of the tube. The researchers excluded people with a history of cardiovascular disease, and the entire group was then followed for more than six years. During the study period, 284 of the people died, 125 from cancer and 87 because of cardiovascular disease.

Dunstan and his colleagues write that the link between cancer and TV viewing was only modest, but that there was a direct association between television time and elevated cardiovascular death, as well as death from all causes. This was true, they say, even after accounting for typical cardiovascular disease risk factors and other lifestyle practices.

Avoiding a Sedentary Lifestyle

Dunstan says the implications were simple and clear -- too much TV time can be deadly.

"In addition to doing regular exercise, avoid sitting for prolonged periods and keep in mind to move more [and] more often," Dunstan says. "Too much sitting is bad for health."

He and his co-authors note that previous research has shown that moderate to vigorous exercise reduces premature death. Less has been known, though, about the deadly consequences of sedentary behavior. The evidence, they write, is now clear.

"These novel findings from a large population-based cohort of Australian men and women indicate that prolonged television viewing time is associated with an increased risk of all-cause and [cardiovascular] disease mortality," the researchers write. "Each one-hour increment in television viewing time was found to be associated with an 11% and an 18% increased risk of all-cause and [cardiovascular] disease mortality."

"Furthermore, relative to those watching less television, there was a 46% increased risk of all-cause and an 80% increased risk of [cardiovascular disease] mortality in those watching four [or more] hours of television per day."

That was true even when factoring in other known risks, such as smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, and diet, the authors say, as well as leisure-time exercise and waist circumference, the study says.

By Bill Hendrick
Reviewed by Elizabeth Klodas
©2005-2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved

[rf35]

Yep, I agree that it sounds misleading to say "watching TV" is to blame rather than "sitting for long periods." If you sit for a couple hours reading a book, is it not just as bad (physically)? What about watching a TV while jogging on a treadmill? Or even walking? I have found it more common lately that CBS seems to use highly misleading headlines in many of their articles. Or headlines that may be accurate, but seem to miss the point of what's being reported on. If this continues, I may look for an alternate on-line news source. Since they messed up the comments section again by putting the most recent comments at the top, there almost nothing left to like about the site anymore.

[jasperlily]

Turbidite ............... People like that would-be "expert" are no more than parasites. Taking advantage of the grant system. They would do well to remember that the successful parasite doesn't destroy its host. The people who give out the grant money - isn't there anybody in charge with a working brain? To differentiate between justifiable studies and a gravy train ride? Or are they paid off through lobbyists as well?

[Turbidite]

The most frustrating thing about these institues is that they get paid for proposing and executing research projects like this. Then they get laboratories, equipment,offices and furniture; all expense paid trips to worldwide conferences to talk about their research, eat, drink and laugh at the people/governments that support this nonsense. I am not against applied or theoretical research at all, but as a scientist with 49 years of academic, institutional and industrial experience, I fear that the increasing abuse of badly needed funds for worthwhile projects is going to result in severe damage to our nation's knowledge base and credibility. As for this project? My cardiologist has been telling me this for 15 years. He did not need a press release. And there's the rub. Too many scientists are seeking glory, fame or government funding at the expense of increasing our knowledge.

[roach9703]

Hey, let's make this a T.V special!

[parisdakar]

"...a study to find out what happens to people who sit too much."

Holy crap. Do we really need a study to tell us this?

[jasperlily]

Man, these so-called "experts" get my goat, no end. It's not sitting in front of the tv that "can be deadly"; it's sitting too long - period. Many, many employees have to sit all day long at a desk, stooopid. Watching too much tv can dumb down your brain and perhaps damage your eyesight but you can't state that watching tv is the only thing that makes you choose not to get up and do something. Try working at a desk or similar. These "experts" demonstrate very clearly the dumbing down of America. Think for yourselves, people, think for yourselves. Reason.

[fergdoug2]

I guess the same thing could be said about quilting! Or stamp collecting.

[GeoGeoGeoGeoGeo]

Not sure if anyone saw the articles about the 104 year old (life-time vegetarian) who was hit by a mini-van and killed (I believe yesterday)? Anyway, people went to his 100 year old birthday party and thought he was under 80 years old. I've participated in the Dr. Dean Ornish program to reverse heart disease, and it consists of healthy diet, exercise, reducing stress and group support. They locked 100 people in a hotel (using this program) for a year, that had already had by-pass surgery and as many stents as they could have, and yet were still getting worse. At the end of 1 year, their clogged arteries were 50% unblocked from what they were. Dr. Dean Ornish is also working to come up with a program (similar) to reverse the worse cancers there are, and preliminary stats look great. Many of the people who entered Dr. Dean Ornish's program were able to go off of their medicines for cholesterol, blood pressure and even diabetes. Since I've started the program a short time ago, I lost 22 pounds, went totally off my blood pressure medicine and feel SO much better. I'm not 50 yet, but when I saw my parent dying over a three month period each (and dying only 9 months apart). I realized that dying starts much earlier than we realize, and watching my parents was the final stages of death. I started this program and made a decision to change my life style as a preventative measure, when I saw initial indicators (cholesterol level and blood pressure numbers) that there is an underlying problem. I had to make this decision not just for myself, but for my children who I watched cry over their dead grandparents - which made my heart break. I don't want to see them go through that again, any earlier than they should have to. GEO

[talk_down_2_you]

If this is true I would have been dead at age 10. Perhaps I was.
But I guess our wonderful cardiovascular "experts" who endorsed margarine composed of nearly 100% transfats for 25 years have had nothing to do with the death rate, nor the combination of these transfats with hundreds of pounds of high frutose corn syrup a year plays no part. This research is so bogus and so poorly reflective of any real health data perhaps these guys could start working for the CIA, proclaim Iraq a slam-dunk and get the national service medal like Bush gave the jerk who rubberstamped his invasion of Iraq. These guys would fit right in.

Meanwhile, if you want some real info about fats, oils and sugars, try running a search on "the oiling of America" web site it explains how liberal and conservative leaders in Congress in the '80's got paid off to endorse the destruction of the American diet to benefit the "edible oils industry."

[pubsrtoast]

Funny how we can all spend 50 or 60 hours a week sitting at a desk stressing out, or sit in traffic commuting to/from work and there are no studies on the health effects of those evils.