Feature Articles: Food, Fitness and Exercise
Turn off TV, turn on a healthier lifestyle
James E. Meyer, nutrition specialist, Ralls County, University of Missouri Extension
Healthcare costs in this country continue to rise. While federal
and state governments struggle to find solutions, we as consumers
are faced with an ever-bigger part of our paycheck going to pay
for healthcare insurance. So, what can we as individuals do to help
hold down healthcare costs and improve our own health? The answer
is as simple as turning off your television and getting up and being
physically active.
Already, more than one in four adults in the U.S. are obese. With
its accompanying health risks, obesity causes an estimated 300,000
premature deaths each year according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). Obesity is now the number two preventable
cause of death in the United States, behind smoking.
Turning off the TV is a great way to improve the health of you
and your family. There are two keys to being healthy – physical
activity and eating a variety of foods in moderation. Watching less
TV can help you with both of these.
Don’t have time to be physically active? You are not alone. As
a society, we have created a lifestyle that has removed much of
the physical activity from our daily lives. According to the 1996
Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, 60 percent
of Americans do not get enough physical activity to stay healthy
and 25 percent engage in no physical activity whatsoever.
Yet many of us have more time than we think. Children in the
U.S. average almost three hours of television each day, and adults
average over four hours. Cutting back on television is a great way
to find time to play outside, take a walk or pick up a new sport.
According to Dr. William Dietz, Director of the Division of Nutrition
and Physical Activity at the CDC, “The easiest way to reduce inactivity
is to turn off the TV set. Almost anything else uses more energy
than watching TV.” A body in front of the tube is a body at rest.
Not only does watching TV keep you inactive, it also encourages
an unhealthy diet. Research shows that the more TV children watch,
the more likely they are to snack between meals, consume foods advertised
on TV, and attempt to influence their parent’s food purchases. Consequently,
the more TV children watch, the more likely they are to be overweight.
Take action to improve your health and the health of your family.
Here are some TV-turnoff tips:
- Keep the TV off during mealtimes.
- Engage in physical activity as a family.
- Move your TV to a less prominent location.
- Designate certain days of the week as TV-free days.
- Remove the TV set from your child’s bedroom.
- Hide the remote.
- Don’t worry if children say they are bored. Boredom passes and often leads to creativity.
Because children are influenced by what parents do, it is
important that whatever effort you make to be more physically
active or watch less TV is done as a family. In this supporting
context, turning off the TV becomes a family effort, a way to
bond and spend time together.
For more information about health and nutrition, contact your local University of Missouri Extension office.
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Last update: Monday, April 19, 2010
