Being a couch potato won’t kill you
Good news, television fans! Aaron Carroll at the Incidental Economist flags new Center for Disease Control research that finds increased screen time does not, in fact, correlate with a higher risk of dying. The study looked at 7,530 adults, who had all participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey and reported their average, weekly screen time. After parsing through all the data, CDC research Earl Ford concludes, “In the present study, screen time did not significantly predict mortality from all-causes and diseases of the circulatory system.”
Ford does caution that his research should not be read as an all-clear on sedentary lifestyles. Studies abroad, in Europe and Australia, have found linkages between screen time and increased mortality risks. The difference could hinge on what kind of screen time Americans experience. This study did not, for example, separate video game playing from computer use or television watching. “Television viewing, which has been related to other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors notably unhealthy dietary elements, conceivably differ from those of prolonged use of a computer or playing video game,” Ford notes.
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