People who watch TV programmes for as little as one hour a day are at risk of not exercising enough, a new US study claims.
Researchers from the Boston-based Dana Farber Cancer Institute claim that for every hour of TV watched daily, the repercussions
People who watch TV programmes for as little as one hour a day are at risk of not exercising enough, a new US study claims.
Researchers from the Boston-based Dana Farber Cancer Institute claim that for every hour of TV watched daily, the repercussions will mean that viewers are 47 per cent more likely to miss out on normal exercise or activity levels.
Whereas previous studies had established the link between inactivity and TV-watching, the institute's study is the first to use pedometers in its research rather than participants' memories as to how far they have walked.
But Gary Bennett, lead author and member of the institute's community-based research team, commented: "Clearly the more time a person spends watching television the less time they have to be physically active, and in many lower income communities, other factors might have influenced the study participants' decisions to spend time watching television."
Taking part in the study were 486 low-income households, the majority from a black or Hispanic background, while two-thirds were overweight and two-fifths had not received a high school