Does TV Make You Fat?
By: Mark Joyner
Last month we reported on a study at Johns Hopkins showing a strong correlation between the amount of sleep a child gets and obesity.
Harvard's Project Viva, a study of 2,000 mothers and their children, has reported a similar correlation between the amount of sleep a child gets (or lack thereof), and obesity.
If the same children also watched a lot of TV they were even more likely to be fat.
Now, the title of this blog post is deliberately misleading. See, science deals primarily with correlations and not causalities.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that we can't know for sure if the TV itself is causing the obesity. It's one of many possibilites that the correlation suggests.
Another possibility is that the obese kids chose a sedentary activity like TV as their favorite leisure activity.
I'd love to see if the same correlation exists for kids who surf the net an equal length of time.
Anyone know someone at Project Viva? I'd love to know if they are gathering that data as well ...
Suggested Resources: Simpleology 103 for a lifestyle change that naturally boosts your energy and shreds fat. Simpleology Wimiki to remind yourself to get up and move, drink water, etc ... (available for free to all Simpleology users)
Comments
Absolutely !!! You are watching tv instead of ......anything active. You eat while watching and do not even realize you hit the bottom of the bowl...You are watching others lives or fake lives instead of stimulating your own ideas and adventures
I think we can't blame TV or net for getting fat. We sill have the pover over technology. For shame many people and many children just don't know what else to do but watching TV or surfing the net. Just common sense, if you sit too much you will put on wight.
Honestly ,I believe our bodies are geneticly predisposed for one shape or another but,a little excercise can't hurt and should boost energy levels.
Note from MJ: Hey Ralph, you may be right, but it hasn't stopped a lot of "fat" people from getting smokin' hot slim. Just a thought to put in your mind ...
Re: "we still have power over technology". Well, ideally we would, but unfortunately technology controls many of us.
e.g. if you can't get up to do something important until a commercial comes on than the t.v. is running you, not the other way around.
It about time people learn to use technology and all the other useful tools around us instead of becoming trapped by them
www.revealtheessence.com
If sedentary people, children and adults alike, just exercise while watching one half hour show, they will get wonderful benefits and will soon find themselves doing more. Even getting up to do clutter cleaning or laundry, or kids chores during commercials which are usually 5 minutes long can lead to more activity, and a great looking house!
I saw an article recently in the Marie Claire magazine digesting the results of new research into that sleep-weight causal link. It was clearly demonstrated that those who sleep 9h or more,or less than 6h, gain weight! People who sleep for less than the recommended 7/8 hours are 27% more likely to be obese. Personally, I've always INSISTED in being allowed my 8h (never mind if my boyfriend was late/bored/horny) and I tend to skinnyness, never mind slim! (Although of course there are other factors contributing to my weight)
common sense tells us if we sit and watch t.v. we will also munch to the extreme, just by moving your backside of the couch or chair is not excerise,but a means to obtaining more calories to an unused body. Exercise is called Physical exertation
TV is a passive activity, and I'm sure is responsible for a lot of things (though may sometimes just be a contributing factor), including obesity, irritability, inactivity, even depression.
Only recently during the past week I've begun reducing the amount of TV time my kids have (I'm ashamed to say it was on nearly all the time! Now we play music instead, TV is on to watch a kids film or specific programs they like), and I have noticed a marked improvement already of their increased activity, less irritability, and even eating better (i.e. not glued to the set while their food gets cold)
(Incidentally I begun this TV viewing reduction shortly after commencing the simpleology 101 course...maybe linked me thinks!)
I recommend "5 arguments for the end of TV", by Jerry Mander. You may not agree, but definitely food for thought. Thoughts you may not have had and should.
There was a show on TV, The truth about food from BBC, studying myths about food and what food does to our body. A young girl who ate alot in front of TV was in one study. She was given sertain amount of pizza, her favorite, both in front of TV and at the kitchen table (not all at once though). I can't remember how much more she ate in front of TV, but she ate more slices of pizza while she was watching. I think overall we eat more when we are occupied. We can gain 5 kg over one year just by eating 100 kcal extra to what we need per day.
There IS a direct link between excessive TV watching & obesity. Advertisers & TV programmers know about psychology & techniques that in their programming can cause a change in habits, including overeating & wanting to stay glued to the tube, thereby increasing the rate of being sedentary. The more TV one watches, the more commercials that one is usually exposed to, including ones for unhealthy products from companies such as McDonald's, which increases the likelihood of overconsumption of junk food! The TV also seems more exciting than real life to many and by living actors' lives vicariously, one ignores what one can do with their own life, including eating right & exercising. I'm not sure about the net, but there may be a correlation there as well, though there seems to be more control there- there ARE ads, but most are not video ads like found on television, which seem more stimulating. You CAN watch TV and not get fat, but the likelihood DOES statistically increase the more one watches TV, which does show a positive correlation. We can have control of our lives but unfortunately too many give this control up when they watch too much television, since this medium is purposely calculated to cause one to engage in more negative habits than positive. One good website with more info on the effects of TV as well as alternatives to watching too much TV is http://www.turnoffyourtv.com.
Guns do not kill people.
People kill people, by choice.
TV does not cause obesity.
People cause obesity by their choices.
Life is about choice, and is a series of choices.
Adverts and stores are mady by "buisness psychology". It is no coincidence that what you need the most in the store is farther within, you have to walk trough the whole store so you buy more. Candy is often near the register. Guns may not kill people but you can trigger a person to shoot if you know how. TV doens't make people to eat more but while occupied you eat more and the adverts are specially made to trigger your hunger.
Raising kids on TV is child abuse, plain and simple. I live in a community where a majority of the kids do not have TV (although they may watch movies on DVD/VCR) and there is an obvious difference between those children and the ones who come from TV households. These kids are more alert, more imaginative, more self sufficient and more alive.
You say there's a correlation between amount of sleep and obesity...is it a positive or negative one? I would guess that the more sleep you get, the less likely you are to become obese. Sleep is healthy.