Diabetes Talking

Question:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thought this was interesting. Television & Diabetes Watching television increases the rate of obesity and diabetes. Really?  How so?  I don’t watch a lot of TV, and when I do watch it, I am usually exercising at the same time. Sounds like it’s stating the obvious, doesn’t it? No. You probably didn’t need a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association to tell you that. If you’re sedentary, you use fewer calories and you’re at greater risk of getting fat and developing a disease such as diabetes, right? Not exactly. Being sedentary and watching TV are not one and the same. The Nurses’ Health Study is an ongoing study that’s followed the health of over 100,000 nurses for more than 20 years; nurses were chosen because of their ability to answer technical questions about their health practices. The purpose of the study is to identify which health behaviors have been beneficial and which have not. Okay…  Too bad we don’t have many nurses here.  A sendentary nurse is I rarity, I think.

But diabetic nurses aren’t In this case, researchers followed a subset of study participants for over six years1. What they found was that for every two-hour increment increase in television watching per day, the risk of obesity increased 23% and the risk of developing diabetes increased 14%. But why TV?  Is there something about the TV that causes this?

Electons charged with anti-insulin gamma ray, and. DON’T get a wide screen TV or you’ll discover that it not only turns you into a diabetic, it also makes you wide across the beam. What made this study so interesting was that it differentiated television watching from other activity considered sedentary, such as working on a computer. The increase in obesity over the course of the study was only 5% for each two-hour increment per day of working on a computer, and the rate of diabetes was half that for television watchers: 7%. No surprise that they found every two-hour increase in physical activity, such as standing or walking, resulted in a 9% decrease in the rate of obesity and 12% reduction in the rate of diabetes. Hmmm…  I use the computer a lot too.  I keep my weights near it and stop every once in a while to use them.

I use the computer AND the TV and neither have ever affected me:-))) Beav

Response:

Thought this was interesting. Television & Diabetes Watching television increases the rate of obesity and diabetes.

Really?  How so?  I don’t watch a lot of TV, and when I do watch it, I am usually exercising at the same time. Sounds like it’s stating the obvious, doesn’t it?

No. You probably didn’t need a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association to tell you that. If you’re sedentary, you use fewer calories and you’re at greater risk of getting fat and developing a disease such as diabetes, right? Not exactly.

Being sedentary and watching TV are not one and the same. The Nurses’ Health Study is an ongoing study that’s followed the health of over 100,000 nurses for more than 20 years; nurses were chosen because of their ability to answer technical questions about their health practices. The purpose of the study is to identify which health behaviors have been beneficial and which have not.

Okay…  Too bad we don’t have many nurses here.  A sendentary nurse is I rarity, I think. In this case, researchers followed a subset of study participants for over six years1. What they found was that for every two-hour increment increase in television watching per day, the risk of obesity increased 23% and the risk of developing diabetes increased 14%.

But why TV?  Is there something about the TV that causes this? What made this study so interesting was that it differentiated television watching from other activity considered sedentary, such as working on a computer. The increase in obesity over the course of the study was only 5% for each two-hour increment per day of working on a computer, and the rate of diabetes was half that for television watchers: 7%. No surprise that they found every two-hour increase in physical activity, such as standing or walking, resulted in a 9% decrease in the rate of obesity and 12% reduction in the rate of diabetes.

Hmmm…  I use the computer a lot too.  I keep my weights near it and stop every once in a while to use them. What could explain the difference between the two sedentary activities? It could be something as simple as brain power. Working on a computer is an active process that requires a lot of thinking and at least some movement–typing, scrolling the mouse, and so on. Watching television is more of a passive process–you can sit absolutely still for hours at a time and really zone out mentally, and that requires even less energy than working at the computer.

Perhaps that’s why I dislike watching TV so much.  And going to the movies. I can think of nothing more boring that sitting and watching something.  I have to be doing something.  If I’m watching TV, I’m always doing something else at the same time.  If not exercising, then drawing, painting, reading, doing crochet or other crafts. It may be that slight decreases in metabolism, every day over six years, made a significant difference in the rate of obesity and diabetes.

Hmmm…  I developed a low thyriod problem and now diabetes. The point is that it’s time to get up and get moving to reduce the epidemic of obesity and diabetes we have in the United States and Canada–ride a bike, go for a walk, take dancing lessons. It might be wise to workout with an exercise tape every day such as The Better Life Body Video. If you enjoy watching television, try to be more selective so you devote fewer hours to the tube. There’s nothing wrong with relaxing with a good TV show, but it’s like everything else in life–don’t overdo it.

Gee, I’m a very active person.  Always have been.  And still I have diabetes. — Type 2 http://users.bestweb.net/~jbove/

Response:

Thought this was interesting. Television & Diabetes Watching television increases the rate of obesity and diabetes. Sounds like it’s stating the obvious, doesn’t it? You probably didn’t need a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association to tell you that. If you’re sedentary, you use fewer calories and you’re at greater risk of getting fat and developing a disease such as diabetes, right? Not exactly. The Nurses’ Health Study is an ongoing study that’s followed the health of over 100,000 nurses for more than 20 years; nurses were chosen because of their ability to answer technical questions about their health practices. The purpose of the study is to identify which health behaviors have been beneficial and which have not. In this case, researchers followed a subset of study participants for over six years1. What they found was that for every two-hour increment increase in television watching per day, the risk of obesity increased 23% and the risk of developing diabetes increased 14%. What made this study so interesting was that it differentiated television watching from other activity considered sedentary, such as working on a computer. The increase in obesity over the course of the study was only 5% for each two-hour increment per day of working on a computer, and the rate of diabetes was half that for television watchers: 7%. No surprise that they found every two-hour increase in physical activity, such as standing or walking, resulted in a 9% decrease in the rate of obesity and 12% reduction in the rate of diabetes. What could explain the difference between the two sedentary activities? It could be something as simple as brain power. Working on a computer is an active process that requires a lot of thinking and at least some movement–typing, scrolling the mouse, and so on. Watching television is more of a passive process–you can sit absolutely still for hours at a time and really zone out mentally, and that requires even less energy than working at the computer. It may be that slight decreases in metabolism, every day over six years, made a significant difference in the rate of obesity and diabetes. The point is that it’s time to get up and get moving to reduce the epidemic of obesity and diabetes we have in the United States and Canada–ride a bike, go for a walk, take dancing lessons. It might be wise to workout with an exercise tape every day such as The Better Life Body Video. If you enjoy watching television, try to be more selective so you devote fewer hours to the tube. There’s nothing wrong with relaxing with a good TV show, but it’s like everything else in life–don’t overdo it.            - Dr. Chet References: 1.  Hu, FB et al. Television Watching and Other Sedentary Behaviors in Relation to Risk of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Women. JAMA. 2003;289:1785-1791. There is a great article on Diabetes and Exercise at this website www.mytrimadvantage.com.  Click on the FREE SPECIAL EXERCISE REPORTS button and scroll to report on Diabetes and Exercise. To your health, Steve Pratt, MPT www.mytrimadvantage.com

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