News Update and TV kills

According to the Harvard School of Public Health just two hours a day of television increases your risk of an early death. For every two hours of daily viewing there was a 20% higher risk of type 2 diabetes, 15% higher risk of fatal and non fatal heart disease and a 13% risk of dying from any cause. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that lack of exercise and junk food accounts for this TV risk.  As you all know disuse is deadly causing rapid deterioration in both physical and mental functions and the average numbers of hours per week that people watch TV in the UK is now around 35 hours. Remember, you need 30 minutes of activity, getting you out of breath at least 5 days a week to keep your heart healthy. Harder interval training can reduce this frequency but we should all aim to be as mobile as we can most days.

Following on from this the Medical Research Council in the UK says that teenage obesity raises cancer risk in later life. In fact being overweight or obese as a teenager you were 35% more likely to die of cancer even if you lost the weight. This study was based on 20,000 men but the risks are likely to be similar for women too.

As has already been reported on the blog getting a regular 7-8 hours of sleep a night is important to help keep your weight in check. We also know that our performance rapidly deteriorates when sleep is restricted to 6 hours or less a day, though this amount is not healthy. However, getting a weekend lie in does not make up for a lack of sleep in the week even after two nights of ‘recovery’ sleep which shows how important sleep is for us all.

Remember, keep moving, rest and get to bed earlier when you can.

Kevin, 26 June 2011.