Don’t fall victim to America’s most fatal pastime

Do you have favorite TV shows you never miss, or do you like to unwind at the end of the day with a long session on the couch, flipping through the channels or bingeing a few Netflix episodes?

If so, you might be shocked to learn that your risk of developing diabetes is on the rise…

That’s right, even if you’re disciplined in your dietary choices — cutting sugar and processed foods, for instance — you’re still putting yourself at risk with prolonged TV watching.

Now you might think you’ve heard this sort of thing before, but what I have to tell you today is an urgent warning.

The good news is that you don’t have to banish TV entirely from your life. Instead, with just a few simple adjustments, you can easily defuse this threat to your health while still enjoying this entertaining pastime.

The inevitable curve: as TV viewing increases, so does diabetes risk

Recently, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health  examined the serious health effects associated with the sedentary behavior of television watching.

Researchers began their investigation where another study left off.

In a previous trial, researchers enrolled more than 3,200 overweight adults who had other risk factors for diabetes (in other words, prediabetic). They split the participants into three groups:

  • One group made lifestyle changes
  • One group took the diabetes drug metformin
  • One group continued their everyday habits without medication

Three years later, compared to the non-intervention group, the metformin users reduced their diabetes risk by 31 percent. Meanwhile, those in the group that altered their diets and increased daily activity slashed diabetes risk by an impressive 58 percent.

This is where the Pittsburgh team stepped in to analyze one more detail in the collected data.

Prior to the study, the participants said they spent an average of 140 minutes watching TV every day. Only one group made a significant change in that category — those in the lifestyle-change group reduced their average TV time by 22 minutes. (That’s equivalent to about one standard episode of television.)

Adjusting for variables like diet, researchers calculated that diabetes risk increased by about 3.5 percent for each hour spent watching TV.

Of course, from this study alone, we can’t conclusively say that if you improve your diet and swap less than a half-hour of TV watching for physical activity you’ll unquestionably avoid a diabetes diagnosis. However, when we consider results from similar studies, we can say that this swap is an excellent way to promote sound metabolic health — a factor than can indeed prevent a host of chronic diseases.

Is your TV killing you?

The results from the Pittsburgh study also demonstrates how physical inactivity slows your metabolism, leaving you vulnerable to grave long-range outcomes.

This is something Dr. Marc Micozzi addresses in his Integrative Protocol for Defeating Diabetes with a look at a revealing — and quite shocking — study from the National Cancer Institute.

The 20-year study that followed more than 220,000 adults over age 50 concluded that each two-hour per day increase in TV viewing increased risk of death — that’s right: death! — by the following amounts relative to the primary cause of death:

  • 56 percent for type 2 diabetes
  • 43 percent for suicide
  • 35 percent for Parkinson’s disease
  • 33 percent for liver disease
  • 28 percent for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • 24 percent for influenza/pneumonia
  • 23 percent for heart disease
  • 7 percent for cancer

And as you probably noted, type 2 diabetes topped the list.

“Of course,” Dr. Micozzi adds, “these are associations, and not direct cause-and-effect findings. But they are striking. And it’s not hard to figure out why TV watching and diabetes are linked.”

What’s truly cause for concern is how much time is spent in front of the tube. Dr. Micozzi notes that TV watching is the single most common sedentary behavior in the U.S. In fact, he says, on average, 80 percent of American adults watch a staggering 3.5 hours of television per day.

And as Dr. Micozzi observes, all this binge-watching has just about the same harmful effect on your metabolism as binging on French fries and ice cream.

Change things up to drive down diabetes

As you can guess, Dr. Micozzi’s advice here is simple: “Watch less TV!”

Notice he didn’t say to stop watching TV. It’s not necessary to put an end to home entertainment. But it will benefit your health tremendously to curb your time spent seated in front of the TV, the computer, or even a book.

Of course, some people exercise while watching TV, which is ideal. I have a friend who does all her TV watching on her iPad while preparing meals and doing other kitchen chores. The key, obviously, is to nurture the good habits that help you stay on your feet and active.

As for snacking in front of the TV, that’s another matter that Dr. Micozzi addresses with tips about the best snacking foods. For more details and even more sensible strategies, refer to Dr. Micozzi’s Integrative Protocol for Defeating Diabetes. Click here to learn more about this protocol that can store your metabolic health and rescue you from chronic disease, or to enroll today.

SOURCES

“More TV Time May Mean Higher Diabetes Risk, Study Finds” HealthDay News, 4/2/15. (consumer.healthday.com/diabetes-information-10/misc-diabetes-news-181/more-tv-time-may-mean-higher-diabetes-risk-study-finds-698032.html)