When we come home after a hard day at work, sometimes there is nothing better than lying on our favorite sofa in front of the TV.

But it’s best not to get involved in such leisure activities: according to scientists, 3 or more hours a day in front of the TV doubles the risk of premature death..

A research team at the University of Navarra in Spain, led by Dr. Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez, published these disturbing findings in the Journal of the American Heart Association..

Previous scientific studies have already shown a clear link between a sedentary lifestyle and an increased risk of various health problems.. Earlier this year, Medical News Today reported that sitting in front of a screen increased the risk of heart failure, and in 2013, scientists found that such a lifestyle impairs sperm quality in young men..

In their latest work, scientists from Spain determined how three types of sedentary behavior - sitting in front of the TV, working at a computer and driving a car - affect the risk of death from all causes..

Limit screen time to 1-2 hours a day.

For their study, the team analyzed the sedentary lifestyle of 13,284 healthy Spanish university graduates, whose average age at the start of the study was 37 years.. Follow-up duration averaged 8.2 years.

During the observation period, 97 deaths were recorded, 19 of which were caused by cardiovascular events, 46 by oncological diseases, 32 by other causes..

The results showed that participants who watched TV for more than 3 hours a day had twice the risk of early death from all causes compared to those participants who sat in front of the TV for an average of less than 1 hour a day.. These figures remained significant even after adding other factors influencing the risk of early death into the analysis..

Scientists say they have not found a link between risk of early death and time spent driving a car or working at a computer.. But they note that more research is needed to clarify this point..

According to their data, more than 50% of American citizens are sedentary, so the results could have a huge impact on public health in the US and other developed countries..

In 2013, JAMA magazine published interesting data on the USA. It turned out that in America, older women sit an average of 10 hours a day, which has a very bad effect on the condition of the body and increases the risk of health problems..

Martinez-Gonzalez says: “As the population ages, sedentary lifestyles are becoming more common, especially TV viewing, and this poses an additional threat to the health of older people..

Our results suggest that adults should consider increasing physical activity and avoiding long periods of screen sitting,” the scientists say..

They recommend that all adults limit TV time to 1-2 hours a day..

By the way, not only the adult population today adopts a harmful sedentary lifestyle.. In May 2014, Western publications reported that children who spend more than 2 hours a day in front of TV or video games have an increased risk of hypertension in the future..

medbe. en.