Current research in Australia supports and broadens the findings of previous research that watching TV is dangerous. The abstract of the Australian team's report states (here), "TV viewing time may be associated with a loss of life that is comparable to other major chronic disease risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity." The report estimates that the average Australian woman loses about 1.5 years of life and the average man about 1.8 years through watching TV. The lead researcher, Dr. Lennert Veerman, is quoted in a recent article in the science news section of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) website as saying (here), "If our estimates are correct, then TV viewing is in the same league as smoking and obesity." While physical exercise is in and of itself beneficial, he also claims that increased exercise doesn't offset the ill effects of watching TV as other research has shown even those who exercise regularly are, according the the ABC article, "still at increased risk of premature death if they also watched high amounts of television."The report's abstract and the ABC article don't clearly explain why TV watching is so harmful, but evidently the issue is one of sitting for long periods of time as well as physical inactivity. We're physically built to stand a lot and move a lot, and when we don't there are negative consequences. One wonders if a quiet hour spent in reading has the same affect. What about the time people spend in meditation and prayer? The ABC article also states that much more research needs to be done before all of this is better understood. In the meantime, less TV is better—as is more time exercising.
