In Brief: Four Years, Four More Minutes of TV

Walking to work, at work and having a college degree or higher all indicate that people will watch less TV as they get older, suggests a new study.

The study looked at how much television almost 900 Australian adults reported watching at the start of the study and then again four years later. In general, adults tend to watch more TV as we age.

When they study began participants were watching an average of 112 minutes of television a day. Four years later the average had nudged up to 116 minutes. Each additional hour of physical activity at work and getting to work was linked to watching two percent and seven percent less TV at the end of the study. Having a higher education was linked with 13 percent lower TV time.

But for men, doing more yard work or other activity around the house linked to watching more television. Each additional hour of physical activity around the house linked to watching 7 percent more television at the end of the study. Among women, there was no link between doing chores or other domestic activity and watching TV.

Source: Ding D, Sugiyama T, Winkler E, Cerin E, Wijndaele K, Owen N. “Correlates of Change in Adults' Television Viewing Time: A Four-Year Follow-up Study.” Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012 Jul;44(7):1287-1292.