So many of us love to watch television.
On average, adults watch four to five hours a day, but if you watch more than 10 hours a week, a new study says you're at increased risk for diabetes and obesity.
Paulina Ramos said she watches about 14 hours of television a week.
In a new study, Harvard researchers studied six years of data on more than 50,000 women to find out how sedentary or inactive behavior, like television watching, affects obesity and diabetes.
They found that television watching is worse for your health than other sedentary behaviors, such as sitting or working at a desk.
Their findings appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Television and health
Your television viewing habits directly affect your health.
 
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“People who spend a lot of time in front of the TV have this kind of couch potato syndrome; they eat more food, eat more calories and eat more junk food because of constant exposures to TV commercials. And they also exercise less,” said Dr. Frank Hu.
If you watch four hours of television a day, the average for adults, you're increasing your risk of obesity by almost 50 percent and your risk of diabetes by nearly 30 percent.
“No more than 10 hours of TV watching per week. And at least a half-hour per day of walking. If we follow this kind of lifestyle, 30 percent of new cases of obesity and 43 percent of new cases of … diabetes can be prevented,” Hu said.
Ramos says she'll rethink the way she relaxes.
“Just be a little more aware of how much I’m just sitting watching TV,” she said.
And since other research has shown that television watching is linked to obesity in kids and diabetes in adult men, the whole family should watch how much time is spent in front of the tube.
Hu said he combats the harmful health effects of television by placing a treadmill or stationary bike in front of the set.
