Shortening the time you spend sitting in front of the TV could pay big dividends in terms of healthy aging As rates of exercise and healthy sleep replaced sitting, the odds for living to 70 or beyond in a healthy state rose Folks often do other unhealthy stuff -- eating junk food, being isolated -- when they're watching TV TUESDAY, June 11, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- It's tempting to binge-watch TV, but yet another study finds that when it comes to healthy aging, the less time on your sofa, the better. The study looked at 20 years of data on more than 45,000 people taking part in the Nurses' Health Study. All were at least age 50 in 1992 and free of chronic disease when they entered the study.
Researchers tracked lifestyle habits like time sitting at work, home and watching television, as well as their hours at home or work spent standing or walking at home. All that data was compared to information on how healthily (or not) they had aged over time. What defined "healthy aging"? According to the team from Harvard’s T.
H. Chan School of Public Health, it meant living to be 70 plus having no major chronic diseases, no impaired memory, and overall good physical and mental health. One activity -- watching TV while sitting -- seemed particularly unhealthy, the researchers found.
"Replacing television time with light physical activity, moderate to vigorous physical activity, or sleep [in participants with inadequate sleep] were associated with better odds of healthy aging," wrote a .
