The average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day which is equivalent to 2 months of nonstop TV watching per year! Excessive TV viewing has been associated with increased risks for overweight and obesity. For example, when watching TV, children tend to snack excessively, have lower metabolic rates and get exposed to unhealthy food choices through exposure to commercials.

A new study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that while adults who reduce their TV viewing times do not eat less, they tend to burn more calories by engaging in various other activities.

The study participants were overweight and obese, and reported watching at least 3 hours of TV per day prior to the study. Roughly half of them were assigned to a group in which TV viewing was cut in half, through an electronic lock-out device. The other half continued on watching as much TV as they normally do.

The 50% reduction in TV viewing did not seem to affect the energy intake of the participants, meaning that they did not eat or drink less. However, individuals in the group that reduced their TV viewing increased their energy expenditure, meaning that they burnt an additional 120 calories per day. If these individuals were to apply that reduction over a course of a full year, they can avoid gaining an average of 12 pounds.

Moreover, the individuals that reduced their TV viewing had a greater reduction in their Body Mass Index (BMI) than those that continued to watch TV excessively.

BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. Adults with BMI between 25 and 30 are considered overweight, while those with BMI over 30 are considered obese.

The interesting conclusion from the finding is that the participants did not need to engage in excessive exercise to burn the additional calories and lose the weight. All they needed to do is to turn the TV off and spend time in sedentary or light physical activities such as reading, playing board games or scrapbooking. Basically, anything is better than watching TV!