Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, once social distancing and business closures became the norm, it can be tough to be as active as we once were. As a result, we are also staying home more and indulging in additional sedentary activities, like watching TV and enjoying video games. More than ever, though, it’s vital to stay active and live a healthy lifestyle.
One way we can try this, according to new research, is to chop back on our time watching TV. In fact, researchers say cutting back to 2 hours daily may be a good way to forestall poor health. The study used information from people who were recruited between 2006 and 2010 to participate within the UK Biobank, a large, long-term study aimed at finding out how biology and environment impact the development of the illness.
In the study, the researchers checked out data regarding the lifestyle and demographics of 490,966 individuals between the ages of 37 and 73. The study participants were followed from 2006 to 2018, with their information being coupled to national routine death and illness registries. To rule out the possibility that poor health was inflicting the participants to be a lot of inactive and watch more TV, the researchers excluded those that had cancer and cardiovascular disease from their study.
In addition, they missed anyone who had had any adverse event regarding their health within the 2 years prior. As they examined the data, the team found that those who had the lowest overall health risks were those who viewed TV for 2 hours or less per day. They estimated that 6 % of all deaths and 8 percent of cardiovascular deaths were associated with TV-viewing time.
Furthermore, if the participants restricted TV time to 2 hours a day, it might potentially stop or delay all deaths by 5.62 % and vas deaths by 7.97 percent. Instead, she said, it’s being used as a surrogate live of how sedentary a person’s lifestyle is. “A lot of somebody watches television, the less they are moving their bodies,” said Xu.
