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Wednesday, January 13, 2010, 8:53 AM

A new study finds that the Golden Girls marathon you’ve been watching on Nick at Nite may prevent you from reaching your own golden years. According to the Wall Street Journal, television is killing us:

In a provocative look at the impact of sedentary behavior on health, a new study links time watching television to an increased risk of death. One of the most surprising findings is that it isn’t just couch potatoes who were affected—even for people who exercised regularly, the risk of death went up the longer they were in front of the TV. The problem was the prolonged periods of time spent sitting still.

Australian researchers who tracked 8,800 people for an average of six years found that those who said they watched TV for more than four hours a day were 46% more likely to die of any cause and 80% more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than people who reported spending less than two hours a day in front of the tube.

It should be noted, however, that hours spent reading FirstThings.com is correlated with leading a happier, healthier, and more productive life (and don’t let any Aussie researchers tell you otherwise).

5 Comments

    Dale
    January 13th, 2010 | 8:59 am

    Yet another reason Postman titled his great work “Amusing Ourselves to Death”!

    Steve Schaper
    January 13th, 2010 | 10:03 am

    Do they really mean to say that since I watch less than 4 hours of TV a day, I have a 54% chance of never dying?

    Kenji Yamaguchi
    January 13th, 2010 | 11:03 am

    I don’t know about this, the same research could – it seems to me – just as easily apply to the scholar who spends his entire day in front of a desk. I don’t see why it would correlate only to TV.

    proto beast
    January 13th, 2010 | 6:51 pm

    Yeah, I sit in front of a monitor all day at work, what’s the difference?

    Russell E. Saltzman
    January 14th, 2010 | 11:49 am

    I betcha the “46% more likely to die of any cause” were folks who decided, “enough of this, I’m going to get some exercise.”

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