Resolve to Trim Tube Time in the New Year by Dr. Rallie McAllister on Creators.com

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Resolve to Trim Tube Time in the New Year

Making New Year's resolutions offers a perfect opportunity to reflect on the past and plan for a better future. If you're determined to improve your health and happiness in the coming year, resolving to spend less time watching television is an excellent way to accomplish your goal.

Americans are watching more TV than ever. According to a Nielsen report published earlier this year, the average viewer spends around five hours a day parked in front of a television set.

If you do the math, that's about 35 hours a week, or more than two months of nonstop TV viewing per year. By the time most Americans celebrate their 65th birthdays, they will have spent more than a decade of their lives glued to the tube.

Whether we're tuned in to reality shows, news programs or movies, there's a real danger that while we're watching other people live their dreams, we're neglecting our own. If we were to turn off the TV and invest the same five hours in more meaningful activities each day, the chances of achieving our own goals — and greater happiness — would rise considerably.

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to improve your health by losing weight, turning off the television is a great place to start. Watching TV tends to keep us anchored to the couch doing nothing more strenuous than clicking the remote.

Spending too much time in a semi-motionless state inevitably leads to weight gain. In a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers reported that adults who watched television more than three hours a day were significantly more likely to be overweight than those who spent less than an hour a day in front of the tube.

Simply turning off the TV prompts us to engage in more active pursuits. The results of a study published this month in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that adults who used an electronic lockout device to reduce their TV time began burning more calories each day. When the subjects cut their television viewing time in half, they became more active and expended an average of 119 extra calories per day.

That may not seem like much, but it can make a big difference in the long run.

An expenditure of 119 extra calories daily translates to a weight loss of roughly 12 pounds a year.

The results of previous studies suggest that the more time we spend watching television, the more calories we consume. One reason is that while our eyes are glued to the screen, we're bombarded with countless images of high-calorie foods and mind-melding messages that entice us to eat them.

Research reveals that by the age of 65, the average American will have viewed more than 2 million commercials, a significant percentage of which promote junk food. As you may have observed, very few food ads extol the virtues of fruits, vegetables or other nutritious items.

Spending less time watching TV may facilitate weight loss and boost your overall health in another way: by increasing the amount of time you spend sleeping. After surveying more than 21,000 people ages 15 and older, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania recently reported that television watching is an important determinant of bedtime and may contribute to chronic sleep debt.

Getting sufficient sleep isn't just a good idea, it's essential for good health. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to a number of medical maladies, including obesity, diabetes and a greater risk of infection.

Nearly 40 percent of Americans regularly get less than the recommended eight hours of sleep at night. Since most of us don't have the luxury of sleeping late each morning, the best way to get more sleep may be to turn off the television and hit the sack a little earlier at night.

Turning off the TV a little more often is good for you, and it may be even better for your kids. When the television is off, both the quantity and quality of parent-child interactions tend to improve.

In a recent study, researchers at University of Massachusetts found that when the TV was on, parents spent about 20 percent less time talking to their children. While they were tuned into the tube, moms and dads were less active, less attentive and less responsive to their youngsters.

Turning off the TV takes courage. It may not be the easiest New Year's resolution you make, but it might be one of your best.

Rallie McAllister, M.D. is a family physician, speaker, and co-founder of www.MommyMDGuides.com, a website featuring child-raising tips from trusted doctors who are also moms. To find out more about Rallie McAllister, M.D., and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.