AfterDawn: Tech news

Extended TV watching linked to higher risk of death

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jan 2010 9:02 User comments (12)

Extended TV watching linked to higher risk of death

A new study performed by Australian researchers has finished with some shocking results, concluding that, even with exercise, extended TV watching leads to a higher risk of death.
The researchers tracked 8800 people for six years, and found that those who watched TV for over 4 hours per day had a 46 percent better chance of dying of any cause, and an extremely high 80 percent more likely chance of dying of cardiovascular disease, over those that spent less than two hours a day.

"It's not the sweaty type of exercise we're losing," says David Dunstan, a researcher at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne. "It's the incidental moving around, walking around, standing up and utilizing muscles that [doesn't happen] when we're plunked on a couch in front of a television." On average, most of the participants had about 30 minutes of exercise per day.

The results seem to follow the latest trend of studies which has shown that periods of inactivity can lead to slower processing of fats and other chemicals in the body.



The American Heart Association journal says Americans average 5 hours of TV a day.

Previous Next  

12 user comments

113.1.2010 21:34

NEWS AT 10!
Shocking news you sit to much and do noting you have higher health risks!!!

NEWS AT 11!
You get shot you get hurt!

213.1.2010 23:04

Someone who spends 25% of their waking hours in front of a TV, assuming they sleep 8 hours a night, more than likely has worse eating, exercising and other lifestyle habits that contribute to a person's health then those that watch 2-4 hours a day (or less).

While that probably seems obvious this isn't something pointed out by the article, and possibly not by the researching company.

314.1.2010 00:38

This just in: Suicide greatly increases chances of death.

414.1.2010 01:37

Quote:
A new study performed by Australian researchers has finished with some shocking results, concluding that, even with exercise, extended TV watching leads to a higher risk of death.

The researchers tracked 8800 people for six years, and found that those who watched TV for over 4 hours per day had a 46 percent better chance of dying of any cause, and an extremely high 80 percent more likely chance of dying of cardiovascular disease, over those that spent less than two hours a day.

"It's not the sweaty type of exercise we're losing," says David Dunstan, a researcher at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne. "It's the incidental moving around, walking around, standing up and utilizing muscles that [doesn't happen] when we're plunked on a couch in front of a television." On average, most of the participants had about 30 minutes of exercise per day.

The results seem to follow the latest trend of studies which has shown that periods of inactivity can lead to slower processing of fats and other chemicals in the body.

The American Heart Association journal says Americans average 5 hours of TV a day.

514.1.2010 06:34

Well i'm not surprised, TV numbs the brain. Too much trash TV, a lot of it designed deliberately to dumb down the public, for instance who with a brain really cares about pointless trashy 'celebrities' falling out of nightclubs or that waste of space Paris Hilton and her fashion accessory dog which is grafted onto her arm, or what film 'stars' are up to, or all the advertising luring the sheep to upgrade perfectly adequate items unnecessarily, or being obsessed by sports.
I watch two soaps regularly (and don't care if i miss any episodes, I can always guess the 'plot' of anything anyway) and a bit of daily news, though most mainstream news is of course full of disinformation. Instead i spend hours each day doing my own research, but then maybe Extended Internet Research is linked to higher risk of death too.

Anyway, Extended TV watching is indeed linked to higher risk of death because it kills the ability to use the brain, but then that's what TV was invented for in the first place, to make people dependant on believing all the crud that's beamed into their empty heads).



This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Jan 2010 @ 6:50

614.1.2010 06:39

This kind of thing is nice to read every once in a while lol. I wish local news had some sarcastic news like this :)

714.1.2010 07:11

i smoke more than a a packet of cigarettes a day and sleep more than 7 hours a night and watch more than 4 hours of tv a day so technically i should of been dead long ago if we believe all we read.i think this is just a scare tactic to make people exercice more and watch tv less, the study was done on only 8800 people.if it was done on 200000 people it would probably be more believable.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Jan 2010 @ 7:18

814.1.2010 09:16

There is always two sides to everything.
8800 people were sitting at home getting fat watching TV.
The more you watch, the more you die. OK then
8800 people weren't driving their cars while texting on their cell phones causing stressful traffic or causing accidents killing people.
8800 people weren't at the bar drinking with their friends, getting drunk, picking fights, stabbing each other or driving home drunk causing accidents killing people..
8800 people weren't going to the movies causing extremely long lineups, eating popcorn covered with synthetic butter, getting fat on McDonalds, causing heart attacks while driving home in traffic, causing accidents killing people.
"IF YOU WATCH TV, you will live LONGER by not causing accidents killing people."
You get my drift, anything can be studied with the desired results.
Hey, if TV is bad, imagine we jam all TV signals worldwide for 6 months. World War III. More people would die.

914.1.2010 12:41

This is just like the study a few years ago that riding a rollercoaster increases your heart rate.... FAIL!

1014.1.2010 12:46

This is just like the study a few years ago that riding a rollercoaster increases your heart rate.... FAIL!

1115.1.2010 02:42

Originally posted by joepet200:
There is always two sides to everything.
8800 people were sitting at home getting fat watching TV.
The more you watch, the more you die. OK then
8800 people weren't driving their cars while texting on their cell phones causing stressful traffic or causing accidents killing people.
8800 people weren't at the bar drinking with their friends, getting drunk, picking fights, stabbing each other or driving home drunk causing accidents killing people..
8800 people weren't going to the movies causing extremely long lineups, eating popcorn covered with synthetic butter, getting fat on McDonalds, causing heart attacks while driving home in traffic, causing accidents killing people.
"IF YOU WATCH TV, you will live LONGER by not causing accidents killing people."
You get my drift, anything can be studied with the desired results.
Hey, if TV is bad, imagine we jam all TV signals worldwide for 6 months. World War III. More people would die.
There is a Gym near my house where they have TV sets within view of every machine. The big body builder guys probably spend 8 hours or more per day watching TV...but I doubt this is hurting their health.

A man in New York was shot in the chest by a stray bullet as he walked down the street, he fell to the ground and thought he would die...untill he realized that he was not bleeding. His cigarette case stopped the bullet. Smoking extended his life.

1215.1.2010 15:07

I noticed that they didn't include the millions of office workers that sit 8 hours a day in front of a computer shuffling data or scientific researchers that do much the same thing......

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
2 user comments
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive