This Thing’ll Kill Ya

By Craig Ballantyne
It should come as no surprise that ETR, a newsletter on how to get "healthy, wealthy, and wise," doesn’t recommend watching TV. We all know that TV is detrimental to productivity. Even worse, it sets us up to eat junk food and increase our waistlines.

According to a study done by Australian researchers, the more TV people watched, the worse off they were for such health parameters as waist circumference, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. The negative effects were even more pronounced in women, who also had higher triglycerides if they watched a lot of TV.

In fact, watching TV can even wipe out the health benefits of 2.5 hours of moderate exercise per week. So even if you exercise, you are not immune to the powerful, negative effects of TV on your health.

Instead, find a hobby that keeps you active. I have a chocolate Lab who fills my free time. You might take up dancing or a sport that you stopped playing years ago. Even use your reclaimed TV-watching time to re-connect with old friends and old activities. Pretty much anything is better than sitting on the couch and staring at the TV screen.

[Ed. Note: Getting fit doesn’t have to be hard. Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne can show you how to lose weight without spending hours in the gym or giving up good food. Start your path to a stronger, leaner body right here.]
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This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2387, 06-20-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.