Is Watching TV Unhealthy?

I think most people would be shocked if they realized just how much time they spend watching TV every day. According to the Nielsen Company then in the US on average people watch 34 hours of TV per week, that is nearly 5 hours per day that people watch. I realize the big flaw in those figures is that they are averages, so some people will watch far less than that, but that also means some people watch far more to balance it out.

Watching TV used to be a family activity as televisions used to be expensive and extremely bulky, but since the launch of LCD TVs then suddenly TVs have appeared in most rooms of the house and that has helped to drive up viewing figures dramatically. No longer do kids have to put up with what their parents are watching in the living room, instead they all have their own TVs and can watch whatever they like. Plus the main TV of the household, which used to be anything from a 32 inch to a 42 inch LCD TV has started to go up in size and people have huge 60 inch TVs now in rooms that really aren't big enough for them.

Unfortunately if you watch a lot of TV then that is stopping you from doing things which will get you active and help you to burn calories. People also like to eat while they watch TV, so I think our viewing habits are a big cause for the rise in obesity that we are seeing right now. So what options do you have instead of watching television?

One of the best things you can do which will be a lot of fun is to try out a new hobby. There are literally thousands of different hobbies that you might want to try out and while not all of them will actually get you up and being physically active, then a lot of them do. Even with the most mundane hobby like stamp collecting then it has to be more rewarding that melting your brain in front of the TV all day. If you are wondering where you will get enough time to start a hobby then remember people watch 20+ hours of TV a week, so even if you just halved that you would have a lot of free time to dedicate to it. That is enough time to learn to play a musical instrument, or you could join a hiking club and go out with them, or even start learning to speak a foreign language.

Or another option would be to go back to school. Instead of hobbies then instead you could work on getting some new qualifications which could help you to get promoted at work or help you change career if you aren't happy in your current one. If you hate the idea of going back to school and having to actually leave the house to learn then instead you could do a course through one of the distance learning companies. You can see it is quite easy to find interesting things to do if you take a few minutes to search online for hobbies or courses that you want to know more about, and yes you will still have plenty of time to watch your favorite shows even if you do take my advice!