Why daytime TV can lead to an early grave

WATCHING daytime TV for hours on end is bad for your health and can lead to an early grave, Scots researchers have found. They linked extended periods of TV viewing to everything from smoking, drinking and bad diet to heart disease and early death.

And they found too little or too much sleep can also contribute to poor health and shorter lifespans.

The University of Glasgow study also showed that those living in poorer areas were at the greatest risk of harm.

Deprived areas where more people are unemployed have higher levels of smoking, alcohol and drug consumption, and obesity and poor diet, than more affluent districts, towns and cities.

Researchers compared the health of people aged between 49 and 69 and took into account factors including exercise, smoking, obesity and diet.

They then checked numbers who slept less than seven hours or more than nine hours a day, and those who watched television for more than four hours a day.

The researchers said that people with the most healthy lifestyles are those who watch television for 2.2 hours a day, while the least healthy are those who watch four hours or more of television a day.

Professor Frances Mair of the university’s institute of health and wellbeing, said: ‘This study is the first to highlight the disproportionate risk associated with a broad range of unhealthy lifestyle factors among more deprived socioeconomic groups.’