Watching too much TV really is bad for you – it could even kill you

● Hours in front of the screen increase the risk of dying from a blood clot

Watching too much television can be fatal, a new study has found.

Hours of inactivity slumped in front of a television raises the risk of dying from a blood clot in the lungs, say scientists.

The Japanese team studied the TV viewing habits of more than 86,000 people aged 40 to 79 between 1988 and 1990.

They found that every additional two hours of TV watching per day increased the risk of fatal pulmonary embolism by 40 per cent.

Participants who watched five or more hours of TV programmes daily were more than twice as likely to die than those watching less than 2.5 hours.

Spending 2.5 to 4.9 hours watching television raised the risk of embolism death by 70 per cent.

During the 19-year followup period, a total of 59 pulmonary embolism deaths were recorded.

Pulmonary embolism is a highly dangerous condition closely linked to inactivity and slowed blood flow.

It usually begins as a clot in the leg or pelvis which breaks free and becomes lodged in a small blood vessel in the lungs.

More than a quarter of people who suffer an untreated pulmonary embolism die, and death can be sudden.

0 Hours spent watching television increased the risk of fatal pulmonary embolism a study found