Premature Death is Linked to Watching Television

A new research has found that people who spend more than two hours a day watching television are twice as likely to die early than those who don't. A link between the two has also been indicated by a past research. However, the new study has come up with evidence to prove the veracity of the link. Findings of the new study were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association on June 25.

Viewing habits of 13,000 Spanish adults were studied by researchers to see how television watching increases the chances of premature death. None of the participants had heart disease, diabetes or cancer. After following the participants for eight years, the researchers reached at the conclusions that every two hours of additional TV viewing time increased the risk of various life-threatening diseases.

They did not find any evidence to link activities such as driving or computer usage to premature death.

Television watching does not involve any movement compared to other sedentary activities that still involve small movements and muscle tension.

Researchers have said that people should limit their TV watching time and other sedentary activities. Also, they should follow healthy diet and involve themselves in daily exercises to lower the risk of early death.

"TV viewing is a major sedentary behavior and there is an increasing trend toward all types of sedentary behaviors. Our findings are consistent with a range of previous studies where time spent watching television was linked to mortality", said lead researcher Professor Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez, from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.

Prof. Martinez-Gonzalez said prevalence of sedentary behavior will increase as the population ages. TV watching will be the most followed sedentary behavior.