You may have done all the hard work sweating it out in the gym or doing some other exercise program, and if you are then going to settle in front of the TV, that may negate some of that hard work.
Being a couch potato is bad for you even if you are otherwise in a good weight loss program, because this has a negative effect on the heart’s ability to recover from physical exertion.
Heart rate recovery is a factor that is an important pointer of heart health and even risk of death.
The least amount of energy is used by sitting in front of a screen, lesser even than reading, driving or writing and longer periods spent before a screen is tied to obesity, abnormal glucose metabolism, higher heart disease risk and the metabolic syndrome as well.
In particular it is women who are seen to be at risk here, since a study showed that longer periods of time spent before a screen causes slower heart recovery rate among women than men.
The expert view on this is – we all need to relax and recuperate after exercise and watching a little TV is fine. But ending up before the idiot box for hours on end is really not good for us; it is important to get up and get physical.
