Couch Potatoes Get Planted Earlier

Posted By elissa on Jan 12, 2010 | 1 comment

According to the American Heart Association, a new study links TV viewing – and prolonged sedentary behavior in general – with an increase in all cause mortality and death from cardiovascular disease.

DALLAS, Jan. 11, 2010 — Couch potatoes beware: every hour of television watched per day may increase the risk of dying earlier from cardiovascular disease, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Australian researchers tracked the lifestyle habits of 8,800 adults and found that each hour spent in front of the television daily was associated with:
• an 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes,
• a 9 percent increased risk of cancer death; and
• an 18 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related death.

Compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk for CVD-related death. This association held regardless of other independent and common cardiovascular disease risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, unhealthy diet, excessive waist circumference, and leisure-time exercises.

While the study focused specifically on television watching, the findings suggest that any prolonged sedentary behavior, such as sitting at a desk or in front of a computer, may pose a risk to one’s health.

This is hardly the first study to show that physical inactivity is bad for your health, but it’s still worth highlighting.  The more the message is repeated, the more likely it is to sink in.