Image Credit: Ezequiel Canavero
I blame many heath problems on a sedentary lifestyle.
Watching television is probably one huge contributing factor.
Just some statistics, Aussies spend about 21.5hrs a week watching TV. Thats from the source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia Jan 2008 – Dec 2008. Representative sample of 20,865 Australians. So it is a recent figure.
Heck, the average American household has the television on for 6 hours and 47 minutes a day, and look at the obesity rate!
Let’s face the facts, if we could spend even a quater of that time doing something else, we would be much healthier.
Read the parts in Bold and the 5 reasons at a bare minimum.
My Own Experience
I used to watch TV a lot as a child, and then gradually gravitated to the internet. However, the one constant was that the TV was always on during dinner, and thus I would view TV for about 1 hour. This is paltry compared to many. Yet, I saw very obvious benefits when I decided to quit TV entirely earlier this year.
The 5 Reasons you should just STOP WATCHING TV
- Sitting Less
Less Sitting ≈ more standing ≈ more calories burned ≈ cure for obesity!
Alright its not that simple, but certainly sitting around less certainly gives many direct health benefits, including better posture, healthier joints, and simply burning more calories.
- More Time for Other Activities
Less time watching TV means more time socialising, more time spend with family, more time spend studying, etc. Basically, if you manage to give up watching TV entirely, we potentially save at least 2 hours every day which can be used in another way which you want.
- Less Brainwashing
The media probably feeds us the worst information in the world. It is there purely to sell and appeal to the emotions of viewers. Often, this leads to irrational influence and influence fear.
Subjects on health are particularly prone to such abuse. The TV is probably responsible for stupid claims about caffeine being bad for the heart (based on rat studies using horrendous amounts of caffeine).
I want to raise 1 particular study, in which the media claimed that “the study shows that interval training is 9 times better for fat loss then steady state cardio”. To quote Tom Venuto in his article here, “This figure was extracted from a study performed by Angelo Tremblay at Laval University in 1994″
However, as Lyle MacDonald pointed out in his article, Steady State vs Intervals: Explaining the Disconnect Part 1, the amount of fat loss in the study was pretty minimal, 0.5kg in the interval group vs 0.1kg in the steady state group over 20weeks. Note that that sort of fat loss can easily be achieved in 1 week without cardio.
Furthermore, the researcher’s themselves stated:
“However, our estimates of energy expenditure and intake lack sufficient precision to comfortably conclude that energy balance was unaffected in the HIIE condition. Thus, it is feasible that the change in FM that occurred in HIIE may have been influenced by unreported changes in diet. Indeed, HIIE- induced suppressed diet intake may be one of a number of possible factors underlying the fat loss effect of HIIE.11 For example, HIIE may have suppressed appetite or decreased attraction for energy-dense foods.24,25.”
Meaning that the exercise probably made the subjects eat less by blunting appetite.
What this means is, the media simply ignored this fact and sold the ’9 times more fat loss’ line, completely ignoring the discussion of the researchers and creating a false story.
- More Conscious Choice about food and wear
The media affects our consumption patterns. Often it coaxes certain patterns which we would not have done intentionally.
It tells us, wear this, eat that, view this, buy that, etc.
By distancing ourselves from watching TV, we also distance ourselves from this marketing messages. We find that we actually don’t need to buy that new handbag, or those new shoes, or even that hamburger.
Moreso for the food, the abstinence from seeing ads about junk food makes it much easier to avoid eating it. It’s like the lack of the visual emphasis from the TV magically erases our need to eat those foods.
- Feeling Better about not Watching TV
Seriously, after not watching TV for 6 months now, I feel much better. There is simply no reason to turn on the TV.
This is great, because I reap all the benefits from above without any added effort!
Steve Pavlina also talked about similiar feelings in his article, “8 Changes I Experienced After Giving up TV“. He has another 2 great articles on the subject: “Reducing TV watching” and “Giving up TV”
The Main Point
The Main Point is a very diffucult decision. It’s difficult because you have to have the commitment to follow through with the solution in its entirety.
All I propose is to have a Fixed time interval, in which you completely bar yourself from watching TV. It is important that you stop yourself, and not let someone else stop you, for this is a personal challenge which you must face.
If you’re fond of it, I have found a 30 day trial very useful. That means for 30 days, you do not watch television whatsoever. After that, come back to me and tell me what you think. But most importantly, tell yourself what you truly think after those 30 days.
The Hardest Part isn’t following through with this trial, it is in deciding to give it a shot. Without that sort of conscious decision, no success will ever result.
If I have managed to get to you, give this a shot, 30 days without TV, I’m sure you’ll be surprised at yourself after its over and then begin to reap all the benefits (and likely more which you’ll discover) above.
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