Can Watch TV Cause Health Problems? Let Us Count the 7 Ways

Do you like watching TV? Do you know that watching TV for long can cause health issues? Well, read this piece to find out.

Nowadays, many people like watching TV but only a few will understand how it can negatively affect their health. There are many studies which state that people who watch TV for more than three hours are likely to die prematurely than those that watch for less than an hour. There was research which shown that sitting for a long time is detrimental to our health. In a recent study, it was discovered that watching TV for a long time can negatively affect our health. Basically, we always ignore the fact that watching television for long hours can put our health at risk. But actually, that is true, and I’m here to let you know these health issues.

Page Contents

Can Watch TV Cause Health Problems? Let Us Count the 7 Ways

1. Your sleep

Watching TV can ruin your sleep do you know how? Well, watching makes you go to bed late at night. We stay up watching programs that attract our attention. It doesn’t matter how late you go to bed, but the moment you stay up, you deny the brain the chance to relax. Our brain requires some time to relax after the day’s work. When we miss that sleep, we build what we call a sleep debt that makes us tired all the time. Unless we pay that debt, the brain will be fatigue the next day.

If you are a TV addict, you can agree with me that you’ll take a longer time to fall asleep, right? This means that even if you go to sleep early, you’ll still have to take some time to fall asleep. There is research that shows that people who watch TV for long will as well wake up early. The drama and stories we see on TV draw our attention too much. This can stimulate our nervous system and can respond to stress. Overstimulation can affect the quality of the sleep and can last for a long time.

Watching TV makes you wake up too often, and the quality of the sleep becomes poor. The big problem is that bright light emitted by the TV screen may actually keep you up. This is in the sense that our body is set according to the rise and fall of the sun. At night, you start to produce a hormone called melatonin that makes you feel sleepy. The production of this hormone increases throughout the night, and this makes you fall asleep until morning.

2. Being Obese and diabetic

You might be wondering how Obese and diabetic are related to watching TV. The truth of the matter is that watching TV for long can cause these conditions. Nowadays, there are increased numbers of people who own TVs and computers, and this explains the rise of a type of diabetes and obesity. It’s not about how much time you spend watching TV, but it’s how intense that adds to the pounds. So what is the link between watching TV and weight issues? Well, the attention that you give to your TV will significantly impact on your weight. In most cases, you consume junk food while watching. But do you know that these junk foods are not 100% safe for our bodies?

Junk food contains a lot of calories. If you consume them too much, it means that you’ll have to do a lot of exercises. This will help you burn those calories, and you’ll have a less case of adding weight. What happens if you’re a TV addict? Can you do the exercise? Unless you’re lying, not many people will do the exercise. After all, you can leave your favorite movies to do the exercise. In such cases, you start adding more fat which can result in Obese.

Another issue is that there are several advertisements for sugary and fatty foods. These foods can shape your eating habits, and you’d assume that those foods are the best and effective for your health. But is that the case? You have to be aware that those are just ads and some will negatively impact on your health. Actually, watching TV will also distract your eating habit. You’ll eat without being aware of how much you’ve eaten. If you have a child, you need to be aware of how much time they are using the media.

3. Depression

Do you know that watching TV can cause depression? Well, the role of TV in influencing the physical and mental state has been profound. We use TV to enjoy the night after long days of activities. They are a sure way to get way the stress of the day. They seem to have a relaxing effect, but on the other side, many studies show the effect of watching TV on our health. You have to remember that prolonged watching of TV will cause a serious effect on mental health. You’ll feel depressed and lonely.

You might think that people watch TV when they’re feeling blue and when they want to escape from their troubles. But there is a correlation between television viewing habits and depression. Actually, there is a direct relationship between the two. Some studies show that the amount of time spent watching TV will actually lead to being diagnosed with depression. Excessive watching of TV will put you into the risk of this life-altering condition.

In a certain study which involved people of all ages, they were asked how depression and loneliness they were. Imagine, people who reported the feeling of loneliness and depression tended to watch TV more frequently. The study showed that the problem of self-control is actually caused by excessive television.

4. It can shorten our lives

Can watching TV shorten our lives? Well, the fact that we sit in front of the TV to relax and pass the evening, there is a danger of spending too much time in front of it. Can it take years off your life? Is that true? You can’t believe it, right? But trust me many studies support this argument. Daily TV watching is basically associated with increased risks of death from cardiovascular to other medical issues. According to a certain circulation study, if you watch TV for every hour, you approximately increase the risk of death by 18 percent from cardiovascular disease.

There was also research carried out by an Australian researcher when generating a life-expectancy table for an individual based on mortality information. It was an Australian data of about 11,000 people between 25 years and above. It was done to understand the relationship between TV watching and Physical health. Based on this information, the researchers were able to conclude that the more people watched TV, the shorter their life expectancy was. To be precise, they lost approximately 21.8 minutes for every hour they watched.

The study shows that people who watched for six hours or more actually decreased their life expectancy by 4.8%. Such statistics are a sure proof that watching TV can negatively impact our lives and it should on par with smoking.

So should we stop watching TV? Well, according to this research, we can clearly see that we all need to unplug our TV for good. But is that really possible? Well, it might be unrealistic but this study serves as a wakeup call, and therefore, you should take it seriously. If watching TV is the only way to enjoy your leisure time, you can choose to do other things that will positively impact on your health. You should minimize the habit of watching too much or less you’ll cut off your days.

5. Poor eyesight

Watching TV close to your screen can lead to poor vision, and I bet that almost everybody is aware of this fact. Experts agree that staring at your TV will not cause permanent damage to your eyes. However, if you focus on the screen for too long, you’ll experience eyestrain. So, if watching TV for a long time will not impair your vision, why is there a warning? Well, the warning is based on the way back in the 1960s where people could afford televisions due to increased and exciting technology. Actually, they were not the flat-screen LCD that we enjoy today. They were a big box full of tubes, wires, and bulbs.

Around 1967, there was a discovery which started that these TVs were emitting excessive X-rays. These X-rays are dangerous to our health and its actually one of the reason why our parents warned us not to spend much time on TV.

Again, children basically sit on the floor to watch TV. They tilt their heads up which causes more eyestrain. They should be seated eye-level with the screen, but eyestrain isn’t actually a permanent issue. Parents can mistake the symptom for the cause. If a child sits close to the screen, it does not mean that the child is nearsighted. A child may sit close to the TV just because he/she is nearsighted and undiagnosed. If your child prefers to sit close to the TV, well you should look forward to having his/her eyes tested.

6. Damage brain

When you were a kid, I’m pretty sure that a friend or a family member tried to tell you that excessive watching of TV will rot your brain. What did they try to tell us? We all know that watching television is fun. The entertainment industry is making billions of many every day. They are producing TV programs that keep us entertained all the time. If you’re a comedy lover, music lover, action movie addict, or a sports lover, the television programs offer all the varieties for everyone.

These programs are educational. If you watch TV, you’re sure that you’ll learn sometime by the end of the program, right? But why is watching TV seem to be a concern? If you listen to all the criticism, you’ll learn that people are warned against excessive watching rather than watching in general. So how much time do you spend watching TV? Well, according to some research, children spend about two hours each day on screen. As they grow, they become addicted and viewing time increases.

But how much can we say it’s too much? Well, the expert recommends that a child of fewer than two years should not watch. It’s also recommended that a child older than two years should not watch more than an hour each day.

You have to be brilliant when it comes to technology. If television can be educational then why are there any concerns against watching them too much? Watching too much can negatively change your brain. The brain gets overstimulated from the rapid shows we watch.

7. Reduced sperm count

If you’re a man or your man spends more time on TV, it’s high time to change. Watching TV for more than five hours a day can significantly reduce your sperm count. There is a study which suggests that men who do a little exercise and use more time on TV have a low sperm count. A man should be active as far as sperm count is concerned. What can your woman think of you if you can’t perform in bed? There nothing embarrassing than that.

Fifteen hours or more of exercise in a week will significantly boost your semen production and quality. According to research, expert compared the sperm samples in the lab for people who spend many hours watching TV and doing little physical activities with those that lack enough time on TV. Those that were physically active recorded a higher sperm count than those that were less physically active.

If you want to improve your fertility, you should increase the amount of physical exercise. You may find it not clear why sitting on a couch watching TV will lower your sperm count, but you must maintain the right temperature because sperm prefers a cooler environment.

How To Watch Tv Without Neck Pain Or Back Pain

If you watch TV over a long time period sitting on your chair, it may occur your back or neck pain and also causes misalignment of your spine. In this case, you should rest after 30-40 minutes and do some back exercise. And, the most important point is that you have to use special comfortable chairs that are designed for watching TV only. We’ve made a list of top-rated comfortable chairs for watching TV. You can check it out here.

Conclusion

Was this piece helpful? Well, don’t be mean to share this knowledge with your loved ones. Let them know how risky it is to be on the screen for long. By doing this, you’ll be saving the lives, and you’ll actually have more time together. But note that, Watching TV isn’t bad at all. Actually, without TV life would be boring. The only thing that we should avoid is excessive watching. Let’s watch in moderation!