Study: Watching TV too often increases body fat percentage
US researchers found in a new study that the body fat percentage of women is related to their television consumption. Because if you sit in front of the screen a lot, you don't move enough.
To protect yourself against obesity and cardiovascular disease, it is important to lead a healthy lifestyle. This also means that you exercise regularly. Too much time in front of the smartphone or television, however, should be avoided. Because as scientists found out in a study, the weight of women, in particular, is related to their television consumption.
A team of US researchers conducted a survey study with around 450 participants with an average age of 44 years - over two-thirds of the test subjects were women.
Body fat percentage alarmingly high
The scientists asked the participants how much time they spend in front of the television every day and how much sport they do.
In addition, they recorded depressive symptoms and the stress level, the daily intake of fruit and vegetables and to what extent the social environment supported the participants in doing sports.
The average body fat content of the participants was 33.2 percent.
This result is questionable because a good and healthy body fat percentage is between 40 and 49 years of age
in women: between 25.6 and 29.7 percent
in men: between 20.5 and 22.7 percent.
On average, the participants watched television for 19.3 hours a day. In addition, over 60 percent of the test subjects described themselves as inactive. So they did little to no sport.
Television increases body fat percentage
The evaluation of the interviews led the researchers to the following result: In inactive people, every additional hour of television per week caused the body fat content to rise by around one percent.
In the participants who described themselves as active and exercised regularly, however, the scientists did not discover any connection between body fat content and television time.
Cardiovascular risk in women
In further studies, the researchers found that this relationship between physical inactivity, the time spent watching TV and the body fat percentage only existed in female participants.
Therefore, the research team directs its recommendation primarily to women:
An active and sporty lifestyle and a reduction in television consumption are very important, especially with regard to cardiovascular diseases.