Television as a public health issue

[Gary Ruskin <gary@essential.org>]

Commercial Alert					April 22, 1999

Following is an op-ed by Mohammad N. Akhter, executive director of the
American Public Health Association, urging Americans to watch less
television.

Television as a Public Health Issue
(or)
Watch Less, Do More, Live Longer

By Mohammad N. Akhter, MD, MPH

There is a way to address the nation's burgeoning medical care bill that
wouldn't cost any money.  It would involve no new government programs or
place any additional burdens on private employers.

Put simply, we could turn off our television sets and get a little more
exercise.

Few single steps would do as much for the nation's health -- physically
and in other ways.  After all, the basic problem with our medical care
system today is not the system itself but rather the increasing burdens
that we place upon it.  Some of this mounting burden may be unavoidable
as Americans get older, but much of it is not.  More than half the
nation's medical bill is lifestyle induced.  We eat too much, drink too
much, smoke too much and get far too little exercise.

We are literally living ourselves sick, and television plays a large
role in this downward spiral.  Most criticism of television has focused
on content--on the sex, violence and cynically degraded sensibility that
pervade the medium and therefore our homes.  This is an important
battle.  Yet no less important is the sheer amount of time that
Americans spend watching TV.  Kids typically spend three hours a day in
front of the tube, and adults even more.  On average, Americans watch TV
the equivalent of 56 days -- nonstop -- per year.

Such numbers are well-known, but the implications often go unnoted.  TV
viewing is the principal source of inactivity, and inactivity has become
a nationwide problem.  It is related to obesity which is becoming a
national norm.  Over half of all Americans are overweight, and roughly a
third are clinically obese.  The percentage of overweight children aged
6-17 has doubled since 1968.  It is not coincidental that one recent
study showed that, between 1982 and 1994, the incidence of Type II
diabetes--the kind closely linked with weight -- has quadrupled among
kids.

There's also what economists call the "opportunity cost."  When kids are
parked in front of the TV, they're not engaged in the activities --
running, jumping, playing--that are essential to the formation of
healthy bones and muscles which help prevent future problems and
injuries.  (Even pro baseball scouts have observed that kids today have
weaker and less resilient arms because they spend so much time watching
TV instead of playing catch).  When kids stare at TV, they don't use
their imaginations and create their own games.  They simply absorb the
cues on how to solve problems, what to eat, what to wear, what to nag
their parents for, and most of these things are either expensive or
unhealthful or -- most likely -- both.

Their parents meanwhile, aren't just putting on the pounds.  While they
watch TV, they're not talking with their kids or helping them with
homework.  They aren't at the PTA meeting or involved with the
community.  Even this has health consequences, since research shows that
people who volunteer more and are more involved in helping others tend
to have better health.

During the last century, the nation has made much progress against
infectious disease which for eons had been the scourge of humankind.
Lately, however, we have regressed in terms of degenerative diseases,
the ones that arise from habits that prosperity helps create.  No
question America needs to improve the way it delivers medical care.  But
in the end, the best prescription for reducing costs is to live more
healthfully. This is something we can start to do tomorrow, and the
first step is as simple as turning off the TV.
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Commercial Alert was founded last year to oppose the excesses of
commercialism, advertising and marketing.  The web address for
Commercial Alert is <http://www.essential.org/alert/>.  For additional
information, send e-mail to <alert@essential.org> or call (202)
296-2787.

To read the U.S. Surgeon General's recent news release endorsing
participation in a national TV turnoff, see:
<http://lists.essential.org/commercial-alert/msg00008.html>	

For more information about watching less television, see the TV-Free
America website at <http://www.tvfa.org/>, send e-mail to
<tvfa@essential.org> or call (202) 887-0436.

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Gary Ruskin | Commercial Alert 
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite #3A | Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 296-2787 | Fax (202) 833-2406
http://www.essential.org/alert/ | mailto:gary@essential.org
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