If You Can’t Quit TV at Least Quit Sitting
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iStock/Thinkstock(PITTSBURGH) — Remember when the worst thing that could happen to you from watching too much TV is that your brain would turn to mush? Well, now it’s a lot more serious than that.
Andrea Kriska, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, says that people put themselves at greater risk of contracting diabetes from chronic TV viewing.
How bad does it get? Kriska says the risk goes up by 3.4 percent for every hour you sit in front of the tube.
Of course, it’s not the appliance itself that’s the threat — it’s all that sitting, which can also apply to the computer or at work.
And here’s what makes it really scary: any amount of exercise you do won’t counteract the risk of diabetes as long as you spend hour after hour on your backside.
Studies seems to confirm these results but it’s not a hopeless cause if people are really serious of avoiding diabetes and all the health issues that go with it.
According to Kriska, “It is likely that a lifestyle intervention program that incorporates a specific goal of decreasing sitting time would result in greater changes in sitting and likely more health improvements than are demonstrated here.”
Your goals: exercise regularly, try to lose some weight and if you’re going to watch TV, try to do more of it standing up.
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