TV-watching linked to obesity in college students

By Kate Richards

May 6, 2005 | You know you're obsessed with "24" when it's 12:09 a.m. and you're posting to an online message board about the latest episode. And you have a midterm in the morning.

Television Without Pity is a message board for addicts of TV shows like the Kiefer Sutherland hit, now in its fourth season on Fox. The "You know you're obsessed with 24 when . . ." posting from fan lextalionis might ring true for many students: "Got an 8:30 class tomorrow, haven't done the reading yet, still finishing a research assignment, and I'm still posting."

According to an Associated Press article in the Salt Lake Tribune, the average college student watches three hours and 41 minutes of TV every day -- about an hour less than the time an average American spends, but still nearly one-sixth of the day. The effects of television on children are often cited as harmful, but Phillip J. Waite, assistant professor in the health, physical education and recreation department at USU, said too much TV can be detrimental to college students, too.

Waite said he hasn't seen any studies documenting the effects of TV on the mental health or intelligence of adults, but watching multiple hours of TV each day can influence students' physical well-being.

"The single greatest impact is its impact on being sedentary," he said. The more TV students watch, he said, the less likely they are to be physically active. "It's a zero-sum game. There are only limited hours in the day."

In all likelihood, TV takes away from exercise, or at least from physical activity -- simply moving around, Waite said. It can also take time away from sleep, which has a negative effect on health, or from interpersonal relationships.

Anne Spackman, administrative assistant for Utah State University's housing and food services, said all campus housing has cable hookups. The university doesn't provide TVs -- students must bring their own -- but there is one cable hookup in each apartment or dorm on campus.

Watching an NBA playoff game in his Snow Hall dorm room, Utah State student Todd Jones said he watches "a few hours" of TV in an average day. Jones, like many students, is a multi-tasker. The first-year student was writing a research paper for biometeorology while he kept up on the score and said he often does homework with the TV on.

Multitasking is common among students, as are TV parties. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the Nielsen Media Research ratings don't measure time spent by college students watching TV in groups, often in their dorms--something of a new trend. A new study by the research corporation is expected to include more about the TV-watching habits of college students next fall. According to the research corporation, the top 10 shows among male college students in October were all baseball playoffs. And according to the Student Monitor, MTV is the cable network of choice among college students.

Jones is a typical male viewer; he prefers watching sports and the Discovery channel. "Sometimes I watch with other people, sometimes I watch alone," he said.

If he wasn't watching TV in his spare time, Jones said, he'd probably be reading or playing basketball. Waite said it's tradeoffs like this that contribute to poor health among U.S. students.

Waite said obesity rates for adults have skyrocketed in the past 20 years. Obesity, he said, is linked to some of the leading causes of death in the United States. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, heart disease, cancer, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases were the leading causes of death in 2001. Leading a sedentary lifestyle and having poor nutrition are the two biggest contributors to obesity, Waite said.

"It's not causation, but the more TV a person watches, the likelihood of them being sedentary is also high," he said.

In 1989, Brigham Young University health scientist Larry Tucker studied the relationship between watching TV and obesity and found a link, according to an article in Psychology Today. The study monitored adult men and found those who watched three or more hours of TV in a day were twice as likely to be obese as men who watched less than an hour. It's not clear whether obesity or TV-watching comes first, but Tucker said it may be a spiral effect--watching TV may lead to obesity, and obesity may lead to watching more TV.

Waite said exercise recommendations vary, but adults should get 20-60 minutes of aerobic activity three to five days a week. They should also exercise for flexibility and strength each week -- at least twice a week for strength training and three times for flexibility.

Are college students meeting these recommendations? Waite's answer is a resounding "No." Though students tend to be more active than the rest of the population, he said, they still don't get enough exercise.

TV may also contribute to poor nutrition. Over-nutrition, or consuming more calories than we are expending, Waite said, is a problem in the United States. Most people eat too many fats and oils and not enough fruits and vegetables. The size of our servings, he said, is also a problem. Supersizing meals is common and as Americans eat more meals out, they consume more calories.

Many students are accustomed to eating in front of the TV, but Waite said this habit can lead to overeating. When a person sits in front of the TV, he said, they tend to miss signs of being full. "They're not mindfully eating," he said. Instead, they're focusing on what they're watching.

TV, Waite is careful to point out, does not cause obesity or poor nutrition, but too much of it can certainly contribute to these problems. "TV indirectly influences those factors," Waite said.

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