TV and cardiovascular death.

Humans are not made to sit for a long time. Australian researchers who tracked the TV viewing habits of 8,800 people over a six-year span have some sobering statistics for people who love to relax in front of the TV for prolonged periods of time. If you watch TV more than two and up to four hours a day, your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease increases by 19 percent. If your viewing habit is more than four hours a day, your risk of death from cardiovascular disease skyrockets by 80 percent. In fact, every hour beyond two hours of sedentary viewing ups the risk by 18 percent. Obviously sitting in front of the computer is not any different. Same pertains to sitting in a train or airplane.
The Australians researchers from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, also found that even if heavy TV viewers routinely exercise 30 or 45 minutes a day, they are just as susceptible to the higher risk of cardiovascular disease. The reason why, the researchers think, is that humans are not built to sit for long periods. Prolonged inactivity affects how the body metabolizes fats and other substances that increase cardiovascular risks. The solution to the problem is to keep active within the period of inactivity. For instance,you can do laundry, or ironing while watching TV. Get up and walk, go up and down the stairs, jump rope or march in place -everything works. Just move and that seems to be beneficial in preventing cardiovascular disease. The study results were published in Circulation magazine.