One Hour Of Watching TV Shortens Your Life By 22 Minutes
jyotsana raoBE 
Experience: 4 yearsJyotsana Rao is an engineering graduate from NIT, Nagpur, who discovered her love for writing during her undergraduate days. She is passionate about writing about everything related to beauty - makeup... more
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Spending some time in front of the TV may seem like the best way to relax after a busy and hectic schedule. But, are you aware that watching TV continuously for an hour can shorten your life by 22 minutes? This means that whoever spends 6 hours a day watching TV is shortening their life by 6 years!
Researchers also say that watching TV for prolonged periods is as dangerous as drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes, and thus should be brought to notice as a “public health problem.”
According to a paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a survey of 11,247 Australians was taken in the year 1999-2000 by Dr. J Lennert Veerman and his team where the people were interviewed about the time they spent watching TV. This was compared to the mortality rate of the country. According to the results, they created a model where they compared the life expectancy of people (mostly adults) who watched TV regularly against those who didn’t.
The research proved that each hour that is spent sitting before the TV screen shortens the life span by 21.8 minutes, which is approximately 22 minutes. Also, for that one percent of the population who spent 6 hours of their day watching TV, the life expectancy was reduced by 4.8 years as compared to the ones who didn’t.
After seeing the results, Sally Davies, England’s Chief Medical Officer said, “Physical activity offers huge benefits and these studies back what we already know – that doing a little bit of physical activity each day brings health benefits, and a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks.”
On the other hand, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, Maureen Talbot said, “Sedentary behavior such as vegging in front of the TV is practically a cultural institution these days and it’s good to relax for a while, but this study supports the view that too much of it can be bad for our health.”
So, now that we know the drawback of watching TV for long hours, why not try to cut down the time spent on such sedentary activities? Try to involve yourself in physical activities, which will make you healthy.
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