Does Watching TV Give You Cancer?

photo x ray delta one

By Crabby McSlacker

So we've all seen the studies that say the more time you spend sitting, the more likely you are to acquire various dire diseases and croak at a younger age. (Which is part of the reason I'm writing this post using a stand-up desk).

However, a recent research review of 43 observational studies suggests there is a particular association between time spent sitting watching TV and cancer.

Yikes!

Apparently there is a much higher correlation between sitting time and colon or endometrial cancer if you plant your ass in front of a television set, as opposed to sitting around doing other things besides watching tv.

So how seriously should we take this?

TV, Internet, and Your Brain

So, confession time. I'm a Luddite.

No, Crabby, that's not a new religion! I mean I am reluctant to adopt a lot of the new technological 'advancements' out there. I'm so un-cool that I don't even have cable TV. I finally got around to configuring the digital converter so that I could get my local TV news fix in the morning.

Geez. I am not impressed. Even with an electronic antenna to amplify the signal, I am getting about half the channels on my 'fixed' TV that I was getting with the old analog signals. Bah humbug. I figure if war breaks out in my small town, someone will mention it to me.

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Besides, watching TV is bad for you. People can watch TV while they work out, but they rarely do.

Watching TV lowers physical activity. Well, that seems fairly self-evident. Many people watch television while eating dinner or relaxing after work. The trouble is, once people start watching television, they're less likely to get up on the treadmill and start exercising while they watch. I'm still trying to find a study that conclusively proves that the gravitational field around a couch increases as a direct result of a person flopping down on the couch and picking up a remote. I've seen enough anecdotal evidence to make it clear that something happens.

Watching TV makes teenagers more likely to eat fast food. A study that followed about 2000 teenagers and concluded that "high-school kids who watched more than five hours of television per day had a lower intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and calcium-rich foods; and higher intakes of snack foods, fried foods, fast food, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fats five years later."


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To balance this out, I thought it would be fair to include a couple of studies showing how hanging out on the Internet can be bad for you too. I mean, you're sitting still in both cases. But apparently there is a severe lack of studies being undertaken on this subject.

There are studies showing that people can become addicted to the Internet. One researcher claims that up to "10% of all Internet users are afflicted with Internet Addiction Disorder." Hmph. Seems a bit high. Apparently people who cause or suffer from Empty Nest syndrome are more likely to be susceptible to this addiction, i.e. people in their teenage years or in their mid-50s.

Maybe sitting and looking at the computer screen isn't so bad, healthwise. If nothing else, the act of writing burns more calories than watching television does. A 120-pound person burns approximately 55 calories an hour just sitting and watching television. The same person would burn approximately 100 calories by sitting and typing. (Totally spurious Anecdotal evidence suggests that when typing comments on a Cranky Fitness blog, the average person burns 3,325 calories an hour.)

Besides, the Internet provides all kinds of useful information. Some people rely on sources like Daily Kos. Me, I rely on XKCD to tell me the real scoop.



If you had to choose between TV and the Internet, which would you choose?

Exciting News Update!

[Posted by Crabby]

Yippee, Cranky Fitness was on TV! And on the Web!

Or actually, from the brief blurry screen shot, it looks more like the blog Craggy Feelings made it on to CBS's The Early Show. This may explain why Statcounter has not detected any evidence of Early Show-related googling. But it was a kick to be included just the same.

The glory really belongs to Katie over at Sister Skinny, who wrote all the great stuff the reporter was raving about. Cranky Fitness was just glad to be along for the ride. Coincidentally, the other blogs that made it were all featured in the same Women's Health Magazine story! If you haven't already, be sure to check out the other great blogs listed there besides Cranky Fitness and Sister Skinny: Back In Skinny Jeans, Big Fat Deal and Lose the Buddah.

(Should we mention that Cranky Fitness isn't quite a weight loss blog? Nah. It'll be our secret).

So here's the link to the Early Show video. You have to go find the Blogging to Lose Weight video, which may still be on the front page or may not. And sorry, there's a commercial first.

Alternatively, here's a screen shot of the video playing on Crabby's computer:

We're Famous! Those are Our Cupcakes!

See? Since Crabby doesn't know how to photoshop, you know it has to be real.

But Wait, There's More!

And some further good news: Cranky Fitness was also just featured earlier today on the awesome Elastic Waist! Crabby wrote a guest post a while back, then kind of forgot about it, and now it's up there. If anyone has arrived from Elastic Waist, welcome! But beware: it's weird here.

Congrats again to Katie and Molly at Sister Skinny! And thanks everyone, for making this blogging thing so fun.

Grey's Anatomy: Handy Guide to Medicine

For those of you who have never watched the popular medical show Grey's Anatomy, you are missing out on an incredible educational resource!

Crabby remembers when the show first came out, they made a big deal about employing expert advisers to make sure that everything they portrayed was realistic, or at least somewhat within the realm of possibility.

Good to know! Because Crabby sometimes watches the show in order increase her knowledge of all things medical so she can pass it on to you.

OK, so that's a lie. Really she watches Grey's Anatomy for the sometimes witty banter and to see who's sleeping with whom. (Sleazy aside: who even cares anymore about boring old George & Izzy, or Meredith and McDreamy? Crabby thinks it's time they scrambled the bedroom pairings a bit. Let's try Meredith with Christina; McDreamy & Callie; Miranda & Richard, and maybe Karev & McSteamy in a Gratuitous Shower Scene). (And for those who don't watch--no, that wasn't a typo. McDreamy and McSteamy are two entirely different doctors).

But as long as she's absorbing so much medical information during her weekly visits to Seattle Grace, Crabby thought she'd include some here, since Cranky Fitness is a serious blog about Health. So here we go, some Important Medical Info courtesy of Grey's Anatomy!

1. Hiccups can easily be fatal. Especially if contracted by a person who is nice but has hung around for a suspiciously long time considering she doesn't look like a conventional television star.

2. But falling into the frigid ocean and remaining submerged there without the ability to breathe for like, almost an entire hour, is not generally a very serious medical problem. There are of course some unpleasant side effects: you could contract nearly irreversible Relationship Tension with your brooding lover. But other than that, expect full recovery.

3. When a patient comes in needing treatment, it's important to pick the right doctor to help them. In a hospital filled with trained medical professionals, how do you choose? Simple! You pick the doctor who is the most emotionally involved with the patient. Doctors make the best decisions when they are treating their own children, parents, lovers, ex-wives, nieces, and romantic rivals. Fortunately, during any given shift, at least one out of every four doctors will experience a close friend or relative arriving at the hospital emergency room near death, so such emotionally intense doctor-patient relationships are easy to come by. If a doctor is stuck treating a stranger? No problem! An intense relationship, often romantic but sometimes hostile and volatile, will soon develop between them.

4. If you are an inexperienced intern, don't worry about boring "scut" work. There's only a little of that you'll have to do. Mostly you will be seeing--and treating--bizarre and rare conditions straight out of the most obscure medical journals. Think you'll never see a "one in a billion" case in your career? Think again! These will be daily occurrences.

5. Alzheimer's can completely disappear! Not just for a lucid moment or two, but for days and days at a time, allowing complicated emotional dramas to play out with a completely high-functioning, fully cognizant patient. Then, at the most ironic moment of course, the disease will reappear again.

6. Most major hospitals are staffed by only five or six doctors and an equal number of interns. Aren't they amazing? The nursing staff numbers are harder to tell--because apparently nurses don't generally have names or personalities. Nor does anything interesting ever happen to them, unless they are lucky enough to sleep with one of the doctors and cause Romantic Complications.

7. Hospital staffing rules are apparently quite strict: no one is permitted to work in a hospital who is much over 40 (unless they are a Cranky Administrator or an Inexperienced Guest Intern Played for Laughs); nor is anyone allowed to be gay. But quirky and often annoying gay people can come to the hospital as patients! This enables the heterosexual doctors to demonstrate how Cool and Tolerant they can be.

8. Hospital work is dangerous! Not only do bombs go off, plagues spread and patients become violent, but at least once a year, three out of every four doctors will face a career-altering or life-threatening medical condition themselves.

So Crabby could go on and on... but she'll spare you. She used to like this show. She found the more "female" point of view refreshing; the doctors were irreverent and frisky; and the show seemed to have some smart writers who had a deft hand with humorous dialog.

But this was before they decided that the realistic life and death drama of a big city hospital wasn't exciting enough. Apparently you need to have Spectacular, Incredibly Unlikely, Ironic, and Ridiculous things happen every few minutes in order to retain viewer interest.

Now, alas, Crabby can barely stand to watch it.

Does anyone else tune into this show or other medical shows? Any of 'em good? Any particular pet peeves about the ones you watch?