Less TV Means More Activity

Researchers found that adults who had a bit of help lowering their TV watching time also burned more calories. Any activity, other than sleeping, burns more calories than sitting idly in front of the tube.

The study, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, is the first to measure the effects of a TV reduction intervention in adults. Researchers hope that a new focus on reducing sedentary behaviors may help to curb the obesity epidemic.

Some individuals in the study group received an electronic device that turned off the TV after a weekly limit of 50% of previously measured TV viewing time. The control group didn’t receive the device. An armband was used to measure physical activity in the groups.

Study participants with the lock-out systems burned 119 more calories per day during the three-week intervention period than during the previous observation period. The control group burned 95 fewer calories per day during same period than they did during the observation period.

The average adult watches five hours of TV per day. Have you considered what else you’d do with your TV viewing time? Even simple tasks like playing a board game or folding laundry burn more calories than TV viewing. With less TV, you may finally get around to organizing your junk drawer, putting together a scrapbook, teaching tricks to the dog, vacuuming under the sofa, exploring that new healthy eating book and much more.

Would you use a device to turn your TV off after a set amount of viewing each week?

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