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Watching TV Bad For Health

Bloomberg, Tuesday, January 12, 2010 10:51 PM

An Australian study found every hour spent sitting in front of the television raises the risk of premature death from heart disease by 18%. Researchers tracked the TV-viewing habits of 8,800 adults and followed them for six years. They found those who spent four hours daily in front of TV had an 80% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who watched the box for less than two hours.

Prolonged inactivity, which can raise blood-sugar and cholesterol levels, is to blame for the health effects, not TV, said David Dunstan, a study author and researcher at Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. Australians and Britons watch television for an average of three hours a day. In the U.S., where two-thirds of all adults are overweight, viewing time is as much as eight hours, Dunstan said.

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case study, health, television

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