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Since the television was invented alarmists and other attention seekers have been saying that TV is bad for your health, but is there any truth to this? Does television really dull the brain and lower your IQ? Or are these all urban myths?
According to the Mayo Clinic television has been linked to Obesity, irregular sleep patterns, behavioral problems in children, impaired academic performance, and less time for psychical activity.
Obesity is an ever growing problem here in the United States, and even though we can't blame television for all of this it does play a big part. An ever increasing number of Americans are spending hours per day in front of the black box and less time in active recreation. And we do not have to argue that exercise is essential for good health. This is one of the ways that television indirectly affects our health.
Sleep is also an essential factor in maintaining good health, even if most of us do not want to admit it. Why is it that our favorite programs always seem to appear at night when we should be sleeping? I do not have an answer for this, but what I do know is staying up late to watch television is never a good idea; especially for school age children and working adults. One solution to this problem is getting a recording device like TiVo; this will allow you to record the program and play it back at a better time.
What I have found is; most of the people who want to blame television for bad health and lower IQ scores are just taking the personal responsibility off of the viewers. It is up to us to get off the couch and study or go exercise. Television is not the problem, it is us.
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