Beware of This Health Hazard Associated with Watching TV

As a blogger and YouTuber, I’m proud to have helped thousands of people lower the cost of watching TV through the use of broadcast TV antennas, DVRs (digital video recorders), and streaming services.

At the same time, I have a responsibility to tell you about new evidence about the hazards associated with watching TV for hours every day.

No, I’m not talking about the supposed dangers of 5G or of sitting too close to the TV like they used to warn us about.

I’m talking about a new Harvard study of over 45,000 women over the course of twenty years reinforcing the adverse health impact of a sedentary lifestyle, and in particular, of watching TV for hours a day.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, i.e., “sitting is the new smoking”, or something to that effect. We all know that we need regular exercise and activity. So what’s new about this study?

The Research

This study compared watching TV to other sedentary activities such as sitting at a desk, reading a book, eating a meal, and driving a car. It found watching TV to be the most detrimental to healthy aging even when compared to other sedentary activities! To quote the study:

television watching was the strongest negative risk factor associated with healthy aging among several sedentary behaviors

Specifically:

For each increase of 2 hours per day in time spent watching television, there was a 12% decrease in odds of healthy aging.

Even sleeping was more healthful than watching TV (for those who got less than seven hours of sleep).

In other words, other than, say, drinking or taking drugs, one of the worst things you can do for your health when you’re at home is watch a lot of TV!

What Is Healthy Aging?

In case you’re wondering how the study defined “healthy aging”:

Healthy aging was defined as survival to at least age 70 years with maintenance of 4 health domains (ie, no major chronic diseases and no impairment in subjective memory, physical function, or mental health).

So the benefit we’re talking about is aging without major disease, which is what we all want, isn’t it?

Why This is Concerning for the Elderly

This study is especially important for older folks, because statistically, we become more sedentary and watch more TV as we age:

due to technological advances and lifestyle changes, sedentary behavior has increased greatly among older adults. In the US, 84% of older adults spent 2 or more hours per day sitting watching television, 25.7% reported sitting for more than 8 hours per day, and 44.6% were inactive. It is more concerning that the prevalence of sitting for more than 8 hours per day and being inactive increased with age.

A quarter of older adults watch more than 8 hours of TV per day! So, this information is especially important for the older people in your life, or to you if you are older!

What to Do Instead

The answer, of course, is physical activity! The great thing is that, although vigorous exercise is great, even light physical activity like doing housework, has tremendous benefits over sedentary activities like watching TV!

Replacing sitting watching television with any activity (sedentary home or work activities, light physical activity, or moderately vigorous physical activity) was associated with increased odds of healthy aging, and the increases were greater when it was replaced with higher intensities of physical activity.

In other words, you don’t have to be training for a marathon (but if you are, then great!) to get some of the benefits. Just get off your rear and replace some of your TV-watching time with almost anything else! Amazingly, even reading a book or sitting at a desk is better for your health than watching TV!

What About Social Media?

This study began before social media existed, so it was impossible to evaluate the effects of sedentary social media use in this study.

But, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I think watching Tic Toc videos is pretty much just as bad as watching TV.

So, if you substitute two hours a day of TV-watching with the same amount of scrolling on Instagram, don’t pat yourself on the back. I really doubt that would give you any health benefits.

But, it would make for an interesting study in the future!

Four Specific Recommendations Regarding Watching TV

The study came up with some very specific recommendations regarding watching TV:

We estimated that 61% of usual agers could become healthy agers if they adhered to 4 lifestyle factors:

less than 3 hours per day of television watching

at least 3 hours per day of light physical activity
at least 30 minutes per day standardized moderately vigorous physical activity
no overweight or obesity.

If you’re intimidated by the 30 minutes per day of “moderately vigorous physical activity”, you should know that it includes the following activities:

Walking
Jogging

Running
Bicycling
Tennis, squash, or racquetball

Lap swimming
Calisthenics
Aerobics

Aerobic dance
Rowing machine
Yoga, stretching, or toning

Lawn mowing.

So the good news is that even pretty mellow like walking around the block or doing yoga count as “moderately vigorous activity” and can add healthy years to your life if you do them instead of watching TV for hours each day!

How to Replace TV Watching with Other Activities

This all sounds simple but it can be easier said than done. Old habits like vegging out in front of the TV are hard to break. And new habits can be hard to make.

Many of us get home from work tired and burned out, and TV seems like a great way to relax and escape. And it can be, if done in moderation. But if you find yourself binge-watching multiple episodes at a time or losing sleep because of TV, you’re probably watching too much.

So how do you add some other activities in your life? Here are some suggestions:

Start small

New habits are much easier to “stick” if they are easy to do. So instead of pledging to work out for 30 minutes after dinner every day, start out by doing something much easier, like walking around the block after dinner. Or planking for thirty seconds or doing even a single pushup! These may seem small and insignificant, but the highest barrier is that first pushup. After you’ve done one, it’s very easy to add more!

Reward yourself

Habits are also much more likely to stick if there is a reward for doing the activity. One example for me might be, “I get to watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica” for every thirty minutes of vigorous activity that I do that day.

Attach the activity to some other activity you already do

Another trick to form a new habit is to attach it to a habit you already have. An example is to do ten minutes of yoga before you brush your teeth at night. Or walk around the block before breakfast each morning. You get the idea.

Get an accountability partner

Having an accountability partner can greatly increase your motivation to do a new activity. So, make a pledge to your partner to do these. Or, find a neighbor who also would like to walk around the block after dinner.

Fill your schedule

Sometimes we watch TV just because we have nothing better to do. If that is the case, fill up your schedule! Join a club, take classes, attend a church group, volunteer, or learn to play an instrument.

Here is a bigger list of thirty great things to do instead of watching TV.

More tricks

I got many of these ideas from the book, Atomic Habits, which I highly recommend if you want to make or break any kind of habits, including replacing TV watching with other activities. Why not read a chapter of this book before watching TV?

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My Final Recommendations: Cancel Cable TV and Streaming Services

I have two last recommendations to help cut down on TV viewing: cancel cable TV if you have it, and limit streaming service subscriptions to one at a time, and only for limited amounts of time.

These services give you a nearly unlimited “buffet” of stuff to watch any time you want. Imagine trying to go on a diet if you went to an all-you-can-eat buffet for every meal. It would be nearly impossible!

Furthermore, when I do subscribe to paid services, I feel obligated to use them because I’m paying for them, causing me to watch TV even when I may not really want to.

If you like having the TV on all of the time in the background, try using an antenna to get free broadcast TV. Or you can stream YouTube all day for free.

So, if you’re serious about these changes, consider canceling the “all you can eat” buffet of TV content that you are paying for via cable TV and streaming services, just like you’d hide the cookie jar when you’re trying to diet!

Another Motivation: Saving Money

If living longer and healthier is not enough motivation, consider the money you could save by not spending it on cable and streaming TV services.

Many people spend $50/month or more on multiple paid TV services. That’s $600/year you could save! Or $6000 after ten years!!! If you’re paying $100/month like some people do… you can do the math!

Also consider the cost of unhealthy living in terms of medical expenses. That’s potentially much much more!

Conclusion

The bottom line is that YOU have the power to add healthy years to your life by replacing some of your TV time with almost any other activities. I hope these tips have motivated you to find more healthful alternate activities to watching TV. Please leave your questions and comments below! – Brian

Featured image by CardMapr.nl on Unsplash