Uh-oh. Bad news! I would say that maybe you should sit down before you read this blurb from the New York Times health blog but, ahhh, hahahaa, maybe you should never sit down again? Throw your chair in the garbage. Throw it in the garbage, do a few jumping jacks, and then come back and read this:
Using complex actuarial tables and adjusting for smoking, waist circumference, dietary quality, exercise habits and other variables, the scientists were next able to isolate the specific effect that the hours of sitting seemed to be having on people’s life spans.
And the findings were sobering: Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes.
By comparison, smoking a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by about 11 minutes, the authors said.
Looking more broadly, they concluded that an adult who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect to live 4.8 years fewer than a person who does not watch TV.
NOOOOOOO! But what if television is the only thing we try to sustain our life FOR?! What if watching a combined, like, ten or whatever hours of Gallery Girls is the reason why we'd want those last few hours with our family on our death bed? To TALK ABOUT THE EPISODES? I guess, in the very least, this discovery brings with it a question: Which television shows are you willing to die for? Gossip Girl? The Walking Dead, if Gabe decides to recap it? Breaking Bad? A second full viewing of The Wire? WHICH IS IT, BOYS, TIME'S RUNNING OUT!
