Too Much TV Time Bad For Muscular Fitness Levels

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Too Much TV Time Bad For Muscular Fitness Levels

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169590.php

Obesity isn't the only negative side effect of excessive television watching. A

new study from the American College of Sports Medicine suggests that young

adults who tune in to two hours or more of TV per day have poor muscular

fitness.

Researchers Niko Paalanne and Tuija Tammelin of Finland studied more than 870

Finnish young men and women around 19 years of age. Subjects' muscular fitness

was measured using trunk rotation, trunk flexion, press strength and jumping

height. Those who watched the most television - at least two hours per day -

performed significantly worse in the tests.

" One of the most startling findings in our research was that about half of the

young adults studied were watching TV at least two hours per day, " Paalanne

said. " That equates to nearly 15 hours per week - time that could be spent doing

healthy, productive activities. "

The problem may be further magnified for American adults who, according to

Nielsen ratings, watch approximately 142 hours of television per month on

average, equating to more than four hours per day.

Another significant finding in the Finnish study was that young adults with high

levels of TV viewing time had low levels of muscular fitness regardless of their

overall physical activity level.

" To our knowledge, our study is the first to report such an association, "

Tammelin said. " More research needs to be done to further investigate this

correlation. It's possible that some young adults are doing basic levels of

aerobic physical activity but leaving out the important strength training

element. "

ACSM recommends strength training twice per week, in addition to at least 150

minutes per week of aerobic activity, easily achieved in 30-minute segments five

days per week.