Being overweight isn't the only fringe "benefit' of watching too much television. The results of a study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise suggests that young adults who view television two hours or more each day have poor muscular fitness, too.

Seeking to test the hypothesis that sedentary behavior leads to a decrease in muscular fitness, Finnish researchers studied a cross-sectional sample of 381 males and 493 females from the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort. Specifically, the researchers aimed to test their hypothesis "that physical activity is positively associated with muscular fitness, and time spent on TV viewing is negatively related to muscular fitness." Muscular fitness was measured by trunk muscle strength tests (trunk extension, flexion, and rotation) and jumping height test. Time spent on moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity and on TV viewing was self-reported by means of a questionnaire.

The researchers noted in their report that the 2-hour limit chosen for TV viewing was based on a recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics that use of entertainment media should be restricted to this length of time "to avoid negative effects on body weight and other health outcomes."

About half of the young adults studied -- 54 percent of females and 49 percent of males -- reported that they watched over 2 hours of television each day. That phenomenon could be even more prevalent in adults in the United States, who, according to statistics compiled by the Nielsen Company, view an average of approximately 142 hours of television each month. That's the equivalent of more than four hours each day.

"Both low level of physical activity and high time spent watching TV were independently associated with low muscular fitness in young adults," the Finnish study noted. "Not surprisingly, a high level of physical activity was associated with high muscular fitness. A new finding was that the time spent watching TV was associated with low muscular fitness, independent of physical activity level."

For its part, the American College of Sports Medicine, which publishes Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, recommends strength training twice per week, in addition to at least 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity. That's something that can be accomplished with 30-minute segments, five days per week.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed