Say No to TV
The television is a marvelous invention, nobody can doubt that. In the last 75 years, since its invention, it was the major source of information and entertainment.
A recent study conducted by The Kaiser Family Foundation, “Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds”, tell us that our children are watching TV an average of 4:29 hours each day and have a total of 10:45 hours of media exposure.
Children and teens spend about as much time with media as they do sleeping, and the overexposure could take a toll on their health, a new U.S. study suggests (CBC News).
Exposure to the media can make children more prone to violence, alcohol and tobacco consumption, early and unprotected sexual activity, attention-deficit disorder during the early school years and obesity (according to Dr. Victor Strasburger of the University of New Mexico).
Have you thought about how much time are you watching TV and how it’s affecting your health? At a first glance, sitting on the couch could look harmless, but let’s focus only on two aspects.
1. If you ‘re eating while watching TV, you tend to consume more than you realize and usually, junk food is preferred. Just think about watching a good movie with your friends. Popcorn and drinks come to your mind, admit it! 1 medium size popcorn and 1 medium size soda will “cost” you about 900 calories. You consume them in 30 maybe 60 minutes and they represent 50% of the daily calorie need of the average woman.
2. If 900 calories/30 minutes are not enough, consider the fact that you’re also losing precious time by doing … nothing. You could rise up your endorphin level by weight lifting or jogging, you could read something (it would probably provide you more useful information than the TV), spend quality time with your family, focus on a hobby or go for a walk with your dog.
According to William H. Deitz, pediatrician and prominent obesity expert at Tufts University School of Medicine,
The easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set. Almost anything else uses more energy than watching TV.
Here are a few numbers you should consider next time you turn on the TV:
- Number of TV sets in the average U.S. household: 2.24
- Percentage of Americans that regularly watch TV while eating dinner: 66
- Number of hours of TV watched annually by Americans: 250 billion
- Number of TV commercials seen by the average person by age 65: 2 million
- Rank of food products/fast-food restaurants among TV advertisements to kids: 1
- Percentage of local TV news broadcast time devoted to advertising: 30
- Percentage devoted to public service announcements: 0.7
I’m not saying you should stop watching TV, but you should at least consider limitting the time spent on the couch or you will be transform into a couch potato in no time.
RSS Trackback URL 12. March 2010 (15:02)
Filed under: Motivation, Steaming diets, Tips by Nessie
3 Comments»
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