According to a Statistics Canada study, the prevalence of obesity has increased significantly over the past 25 years, across all age and gender categories. When faced with this fact, we intuitively think of two combined causes: poor diet and lack of physical exercise. However, when researchers take a closer look at the empirical data concerning the effect of one or other of these determinants, the results are not as clear-cut as they might seem. Researchers try to explain this increase by the sedentarization of our behaviours.
COMPUTER OR TV
Among children and teenagers, numerous studies show that there is a link between the number of hours spent in front of a computer screen or television and overweight or obesity. A recent study by Statistics Canada reports that the situation is the same for Canadian adults, regardless of gender.One possible explanation for the link between screen time and obesity concerns the metabolic energy demand (MET value) associated with this activity. Indeed, watching television requires 1.0 METs, which is only slightly higher than the demand for sleep (0.9 METs), putting away groceries (2.5 METs) and playing board games (1.5 METs) all have a higher MET value than watching television or spending time in front of the computer.
SLEEP DISORDERS
Responding positively to numerous advertising messages for foods rich in calories but poor in nutritional content is also thought to have a significant effect on increased calorific intake and obesity. Similarly, a study targeting teenagers showed that for every hour of viewing, the risk of starting to drink alcoholic beverages increased by 9%. Elementary school children are also affected by television viewing.In 1999, a team of researchers conducted research into the relationship between television viewing and sleep. They found that too much TV viewing had an effect on bedtime resistance, and on the length of time between going to bed and falling asleep. For those of you with children and teenagers, it’s easy to transpose this reality to the effect of video games on their behaviour.
LIFE EXPECTANCY
According to some projections, the steady increase in life expectancy over the course of the 20th century will begin to slow down if nothing is done to combat obesity in the population. If watching television or spending time in front of the computer is harmful to your health and that of your loved ones, perhaps we should also analyze all the sedentary behaviours in your daily life. Sedentary lifestyles must be prevented from an early age.The younger the intervention to reduce physical inactivity, the more encouraging the results. The key is to reduce physical inactivity and replace it with less sedentary activities.While cultivating mental health and intellectual curiosity by researching on the web or watching an educational TV program is a good idea, these are not activities that result in very high energy expenditure. To combat obesity and overweight, it’s best to choose a physical activity that requires high energy expenditure.As the adverts say, moderation tastes better! The same applies to television, computers and video games.
