Found: Four Hours Per Week to Exercise

If you stop watching commercials, you can start getting in shape.

The latest Nielsen Media Research report shows that the average American spends 4 hours and 35 minutes watching television per day.

And that might be low, as we settle into the couch for the pro football playoffs.

Per 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 of 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.

There's your lost time for exercise. Four-plus hours each week, plenty of time to drop a few pounds, improve your heart health and feel more positive. And, let's face it, how many more beer, insurance or car commercials can you watch in between touchdowns?

Television is not necessarily wasted time as people use it to relax and learn. However, lack of time is one of the most commonly reported reasons that people don’t exercise or plan and prepare healthier meals.

Perhaps it is worth considering the benefits that the time you spend watching television could otherwise bring. If lack of time keeps you from adopting some healthful habits but you aren’t ready to reduce your television-watching time, you might reconsider the way you spend commercials. There are several different approaches you could take to make use of this gold mine of time.

First,

By Karen Collins, R.D., American Institute for Cancer Research