There’s some interesting data in this Health Tip based on both recent and older research concerning our screen viewing habits and their effects on both mind and body.
When I present you with a “number,” like this one: “the average American watches 3.1 hours of TV every day” (in this, we’re highest in the world), you need to pause and reflect about yourself.
When I compare TV time with “screen time,” I am meaning the sum of TV plus your PC/pad/phone which in the U.S. is 7.0 hours a day and not the highest in the world. But realize this does mean your 3 TV hours added to all your internet-related activities: your job requirements, e-mails, social media, all that stuff. Now you might be thinking, “I sit at a computer all day long, 7-8 hours minimum, and then go home and watch some TV.” But your mail delivery person, your Uber driver, your plumber doesn’t have a job staring at a computer screen all day long.
So the U.S. average is 3 hours of TV and 4 hours of internet. Total 7 hours a day.
Why watching TV is really an unhealthful activity
Not that you sitting at a computer screen for eight hours is the same as hiking through the Rockies or puffing on an elliptical but at least with internet activities, your brain is kept busy. The villain with TV watching was ‘passive inactivity’ and in the largest study of its time, from 2000 to 2008, researchers in Australia tracked the viewing habits and health issues of over 100,000 people aged 25 and up. What they discovered (shocking at its time, but the study has since been replicated), is that watching TV six hours a day subtracted five years from life expectancy, which was the same number of years lost from smoking one pack of cigarettes a day.
Just last week, a study published by the University of Southern California showed that adults aged 60 and over who spend much of their time watching TV run a significant risk of developing dementia. However, when this same age group is “computer active,” there is actually a reduced risk of dementia. The results remained the same even after scientists accounted for levels of physical activity. Individuals who were highly physically active but then watched a lot of TV developed far more dementia than those who were less physically active but spent more time at their computers.
