Too much TV can cut life expectancy by five years

The impact was equivalent to someone over the age of 25 losing 22 minutes of their life for every single hour of television they watch and is particularly worrying given research by TV Licensing which indicated Scots watch an average of five hours’ television a day.

The new study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found people living such a sedentary lifestyle were more likely to die from heart attacks and strokes – two of Scotland’s biggest killers.

Coronary heart disease causes around 9000 premature deaths every year, while some 13,000 people in Scotland are treated for strokes annually – including 3000 patients under 65.

Watching television tended to make up the lion’s share of time spent sitting still, but researchers added that time spent sitting at desks or in cars also contributed to negative health effects.

They compared the consequences to smoking and obesity in terms of their impact as a “public health problem”.

Writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers said: “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.”

It is also akin to risk factors such as smoking, with previous research showing that one cigarette cuts an average of 11 minutes from someone’s life-span – equivalent to half-an-hour of TV watching.

The team used information gathered from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study – together with British population and death rate data – to calculate the lifetime risk from television viewing.

The Australian study involved more than 11,000 people over the age of 25 and data was based on how much time was spent watching television or videos and DVDs. The British researchers added: “While we used Australian data, the effects in other industrialised and developing countries are likely to be com-parable, given the typically large amounts of time spent watching TV and similarities in disease patterns.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “We want more people, of all ages groups, to achieve the benefits that a more active and healthy lifestyle can bring.

“That is why we are investing in sporting facilities through our community sports hubs initiative and promoting the role of sport in our schools as part of the curriculum as well as the active schools programme.

“We want to make participation easier and enjoyable for individuals and we want to eliminate the obstacles which stand in the way of achieving this.”

Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Sedentary behaviour, such as vegging in front of the TV, is practically a cultural institution these days and it’s good to relax for a while, but this study supports the view that too much of it can be bad for our health.

“Many of us make a conscious decision not to smoke because we know it’s bad for us, and this study suggests that more of us should make the same kind of pledge about lounging around and watching lots of TV.”

It comes as researchers at Aberdeen University have begun to investigate the use of special diets to help combat obesity. Research staff are studying the use of certain food groups to help control a circuit in the brain which is defective in obesity.

The project is being funded by children’s health charity Action Medical Research.

Dr Alexandra Dedman, the charity’s senior research evaluation manager, said: “In theory, the right nutrition could help the child’s energy balance circuit to work in harmony with their diet and exercise plan to lose weight.

“This could mean children no longer get stuck in an endless cycle of dieting and rebound weight gain. Instead, they might lose weight and keep it off for good.”