Got a screen? Just say no! (Apparently)
According to the study conducted by a group of international researchers, anyone who devotes more than four hours daily on screen-based entertainment such as TV, video games or surfing the web, ups their risk of heart attack and stroke by 113 percent and the risk of death by any cause by nearly 50 percent compared to those who spend less than two hours daily in screen play — and this is regardless of whether or not they also work out.
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“Assuming that leisure-time screen time is a representative indicator of overall sitting, our results lend support to the idea that prolonged sitting is linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and premature mortality,” notes the report’s lead author, Emmanuel Stamatakis of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College in London. “Doing some exercise every day may not compensate for the damage done during very long periods of screen time.”
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Stamatakis adds that since modern life has moved to the sluggish end of the activity continuum we need to find ways to make moving and standing the default states and sitting the exception.
Even though a formal workout program didn’t appear to offer protection from the ill effects in this study, Stamatakis still cautions that avoiding sitting is not enough to make up for lack of exercise; we should all still aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity daily.
But what if there’s no screen involved (such as just sitting there at a sewing machine)?
I suppose the results are the same.
I guess I’m doomed.