Reduce Television Viewing Time

• Prolonged television (TV) viewing is associated with increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). A meta-analysis of eight studies involving 175,938 individuals and 1.1 million person-years of follow-up has shown that TV viewing for 2 hours a day increases the risk of diabetes by 20%, 15% for CVD and 13% for death from all causes.¹ This probably applies to spending time in front of the computer.

• The associations between time spent viewing TV and risk of diabetes and CVD were linear. The estimated absolute risk differences per every 2 hours of TV viewing per day were 1760 cases of diabetes per million individuals per year, 380 cases of fatal CVD per million individuals per year, and 1040 deaths for all-cause mortality per million  individuals per year. ¹

• Given the high prevalence and the lack of knowledge of the general public about the associated dangers, prolonged TV watching is rapidly becoming an important public health problem and major contributor to sedentary lifestyle in the 21^st century.¹

Sources

1. Grontved A, Hu FB. Television viewing and risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis. JAMA. Jun 15 2011;305(23):2448-2455.