Each Hour of Boob Tube Hacks 22 Mins. Off Your Life

Watching TV could be as dangerous as smoking or obesity, with each hour in front of the boob tube shortening your life by 22 minutes, reports the Telegraph. For adults who watch six hours of TV a day, that works out to nearly five years of less living. Researchers used a survey of 11,247 Australians that started in 1999 and asked about TV viewing habits, then cross-referenced that data with mortality figures.

“Many of us make a conscious decision not to smoke because we know it’s bad for us, and this study suggests that more of us should make the same kind of pledge about lounging around and watching lots of TV," said a senior nurse with the British Heart Foundation. You can read an abstract of the original article at the British Journal of Sports Medicine. (More television stories.)