Excessive TV is bad m’kay?
Ok binge watchers -too much telly and you're at risk of a blood clot, says the American Heart Association.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Another science survey is bad news for couch potatoes, if it’s claims are accurate.
New research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation says that watching a lot of television every day may increase your risk of dying from a blood clot in the lung.
From 1988 to 1990, Japanese researchers asked 86,024 participants, age 40-79, how many hours they spent watching TV. Over the next 19 years, 59 participants died of a pulmonary embolism.
Researchers found that compared to participants who watched TV less than 2.5 hours each day, deaths from a pulmonary embolism increased by:
70 percent among those who watched TV from 2.5 to 4.9 hours
40 percent for each additional 2 hours of daily TV watching; and
2.5 times among those who watched TV 5 or more hours.
“Pulmonary embolism occurs at a lower rate in Japan than it does in Western countries, but it may be on the rise,” said Hiroyasu Iso, M.D., Ph.D., professor of public health at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine. “The Japanese people are increasingly adopting sedentary lifestyles, which we believe is putting them at increased risk.”
Researchers accounted for several factors that might have influenced findings, including obesity, diabetes, cigarette smoking and hypertension. After the number of hours spent watching TV, obesity appeared to have the next strongest link to pulmonary embolism.
Toru Shirakawa, M.D., study first author and a research fellow in public health at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, said “Nowadays, with online video streaming, the term ‘binge-watching’ to describe viewing multiple episodes of television programs in one sitting has become popular.
“This popularity may reflect a rapidly growing habit.”
And while we’re at it, don’t forget binge-watching can also lead to loneliness and depression too (not many researchers report it can lead to escapism or entertainment, but I digress…).
Regular exercise is recommended to avoid the risk of blood clots. And not watching The Footy Show.
Source: EurekaAlert
4 Responses
To misquote Homer “Of course everything looks bad when you study it”
Well no shit, inactivity leads to blood clots and death. The point this research is trying to make is something everyone already knows… lead an active lifestyle…. if you happen to watch 2.5 hours of TV per night yet are active all day then you’re doing things right.
I wonder how many of those 86,000 people also died in car accidents, suicides or cancer
I’m afraid I am not fully understanding how this study worked…
Writing a lot of television news every day may increase your risk of depression…… !! y/n?