While most of us realize that spending hours upon hours on our couch isn’t good for our health, a study conducted by the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain reveals just how detrimental this particular activity can be. In fact, it may even kill you.
Researchers followed just over 13,000 people with a mean age of 37 years for almost a decade. They assessed their health during the course of the study, noting anyone that was diagnosed with a disease or died.
What they found is that for the participants who watched more than one hour of television a day, their risk of stroke or heart disease rose 44% for each additional two-hour interval of TV time. And that isn’t all.
Their risk of dying from cancer went up 21% and their overall risk of premature death via some other condition rose an astonishing 55%. This was regardless of any other healthy behavior they had (such as not smoking or eating healthy food).
So, what does this mean?
If you want to live a long, healthy life, then you need to get off your couch and do something. Do anything. Just turn off your television and find activities you enjoy.
Do you have an adventurous side? Then you may want to try rock climbing, snowboarding, or hiking in an area that you’ve never been?
Prefer something a little less taxing on your body? You can always go for a walk around the block, take a bike ride with the kids, or clean out that closet you’ve been meaning to organize.
The point is that you don’t have to do much to lessen your risk. You just have to turn off the TV and do something else.
What activities do you turn to when you are tempted to spend your nights or weekends engrossed in TV shows and movies?
