Utah Valley Pediatrics strives to keep parents up to date on the latest health topics and advisories. Our newsletter covers medicine changes and news, pediatric news, seasonal and age specific topics and what’s new at Utah Valley Pediatrics.
Archives
Winter 2009
Vol. 2 Issue 4
Medicine Changes and News
You Can Protect Your Child from Rotavirus
Tips for Helping Children Handle Shots
Pediatric News
Studies Link Physical Activity with Better Academic Performance
Pressuring Children to Eat: Winning the Battle, Losing the War
Want to Make Your Children Happier, Healthier, Smarter and More Well-Adjusted? Eat Dinner With Them!
Having the TV on Disrupts Toddlers From Normal Play
Seasonal and Age Specific
Tips for Making Sure Your Child’s Toys are Safe
Contacts
Kevin Moffitt
Administrator
801-373-8930
Shalise Law
Manager
801-373-8930
Quick Links
Unhappy? Blame the TV
There are so many reasons to turn off the TV and get off the couch. You already know most of them: a healthy lifestyle requires exercise, you can't shop the economy back to health from your couch, and your friends miss you. But researchers have now discovered one more reason. Apparently, unhappy people watch more TV than happy people do.
A new study published in December's Social Indicators Research, a scholarly journal that publishes studies relating to quality of life, shows that happy people watch about 5.6 hours less of television than unhappy people do. Happy people use that time to do other activities like socializing, reading, and playing sports, to name a few. Unhappy people use that time to, uh, watch more television.
Researchers estimate that after work, sleep, and other mandatory activities, people only have about 35 to 40 hours of free time each week. The unhappiest people in the study reserved about 25 of those hours for the television. The happiest people put in a solid 18.9 hours per week in front of the TV and then did other activities.
The study incorporated data from about 40,000 people between the ages of 18 and 64. Study participants were asked to rate their own happiness levels, and some study participants kept daily time journals to track time spent watching television or pursuing other activities. Researchers controlled the study to account for differences in education, income, age, race, sex, and marital status.
While the study shows a clear correlation between hours spent in front of the TV and happiness levels, it is still unclear whether the TV causes unhappiness or if unhappy people tend to use the TV as a form of escape. Additional studies are necessary to address this question. In the meantime, you can do your own study. Try watching television for a half hour less every day and see how you feel!
For more information:
Study: Unhappy people watch more TV than happy people
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