The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

How to get healthy in 4 hours a week (@ msnbc)

One of the most common excuses I use myself, and I hear others use, for not exercising is not enough time.  Yet, most Americans who complain of not having enough time to adopt fitness habits spend at least a couple hours a night in front of the TV.

A Nielsen Media Research report from fall 2006 shows that the average American spends four hours and 35 minutes watching television each day. Each week, television viewing adds up to more than 30 hours — well beyond a part-time job.

 

Other reports show that national and local commercials now total an average of eight minutes for every half-hour show. So the average viewer is watching 40 minutes of commercials a day, or more than four and a half hours weekly.

So, if you watch 2 hr-long shows in a night, that’s 32 minutes of commercials - granted, it’s split into 8-minute segments, so you can’t get your heart-rate up for aerobic exercise, but there are plenty of other fitness-related activities you could do, including:

• Tummy crunches
• Resistence training with weights stashed near the TV
• Pack your next day’s lunch
• Prepare a shopping list for the next week
• Small tasks that get in the way of exercise, like paying bills

Thank you for visiting The Life Ledger. If you enjoyed this article, check out the related posts below and subscribe to our feed.