TV watching = increase adults’ heart risk
The longer 30+ year olds spent in front of the TV, the stiffer their arteries – a sign of likely heart disease in the future.
The fact that your arteries aren’t elastic, it predisposes you to develop hypertension in later age and cardiovascular disease.
Previous studies have linked TV watching to increased weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes, she and her colleagues write in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
It is thought that people who spend more time in front of their TVs are less likely to get up and be physically active throughout the day, leading to a variety of problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
For the new study, researchers wanted to see whether early signs of damage caused by too little activity could be detected in younger adults.
They used data collected from 373 women and men, who filled out questionnaires about their TV viewing, exercise and other habits at age 32 and then again at age 36.
At age 36, each participant also had an ultrasound measurement of the stiffness of several major arteries in the body.
The researchers found those with the stiffest carotid artery, which is the main blood vessel in the head and neck, spent an average of about 20 more minutes per day watching TV, compared to people with the most elastic carotid artery.
Similar results were seen for stiffness of the femoral arteries in the legs.
The limit should be no more than two hours per day of sitting. That’s in line with current recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics for maximum screen time for children.
This problem is NOT offset by exercising at some other time! It doesn’t correct the bad effects of sedentary time.
Joel Stager, a professor at the Indiana University-Bloomington School of Public Health, told Reuters Health that those with stiff arteries wouldn’t face immediate health problems. But it raises their risks later on.
“To be honest about this particular measure, it’s more of an association of future problems,” he said. “In other words, it’s predictive of cardiovascular disease down the road.”
Stager also added that the new study cannot prove watching TV is what caused people’s arteries to stiffen. It could be some other factor that goes along with TV watching, for instance, or young people with stiff arteries might be more likely to stay in and watch TV.
Ferreira told Reuters Health that more research into how watching TV may be tied to arterial stiffness is needed. But she said there is a take-home message for the average person.
Simply, be active! Not just two hours of TV are bad – two hours of sedentary anything are bad: TV, computers, laptops, tablets. Exercise your body, not rest your eyeballs!
SOURCE:
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