January 11, 2011
People who spend more than two hours per day of leisure time watching television or sitting in front of a screen face double the risk of heart disease and higher risk of dying, a new study said.
Researchers said the effect was seen regardless of how much people exercised, indicating that how we choose to spend our free time away from work has a huge impact on our overall health.
"It is all a matter of habit. Many of us have learned to go back home, turn the TV set on and sit down for several hours -- it's convenient and easy to do," said Emmanuel Stamatakis, expert in epidemiology and public health at University College London.
"But doing so is bad for the heart and our health in general," said Stamatakis, who along with the other study authors is advocating public health guidelines to warn of the risks of being inactive during non-work hours.
Read more here:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/two-hours-of-tvwatching-boosts-heart-risk-20110111-19lvm.html
