Television Watching and “Sit Time”
The Small Screen Looms Large in the Obesity EpidemicĀ
Television (TV) watching is the favourite pastime in the SA. After work and sleep, TV viewing is the most commonly reported activity taking up just over half of all leisure time. These TV habits are part of a larger trend: globally, people are spending more time sitting at work and at home and this āsit timeā is a major contributor to the overweight. Sedentary activitiesānot only TV watching, but also working at desk jobs, using computers, playing video games, driving cars āburn few kilojoules and may replace more active pursuits. Increasingly, though, thereās evidence that watching TVāand, especially, watching junk food ads on TVāpromotes obesity by changing mainly what and how much people eat, less so by changing how much they move.
TV Viewing and Adult Obesity
In the Nursesā Health Study which followed more than 50,000 middle-age women for six years it showed that for every two hours the women spent watching television each day, they had a 23 percent higher risk of becoming obese and a 14 percent higher risk of developing diabetes.
How Does TV Watching Increase the Risk of Overweight?
TV watching could promote obesity in several ways:
less time for physical activity
promoting poor diets by giving more opportunities for unhealthy snacking and poorer food choices while watching TV
interfering with sleep
food and beverage marketing influence choices of what to consume
The Bottom Line: Limit TV and āSit Time,ā Increase āFit Timeā to Prevent Obesity
Staying active can help with weight control, as can limiting sedentary activities. A good strategy is to replace āsit timeā with āfit timeā. Peopleās physical and social surroundings have a strong influence on how active they are and we understand itās not always practical to take a bicycle to work or it might not be safe to go for a walk. However, you need to do whatever it takes in your means, to be as active as you can. All the little ābitsā of exercise will add up