We all know exercise and activity is good for us, junk foods are empty calories and too much TV turns our brains to mush.

But what about an early death?

Is tuning into the TV after a long day of classes or a hard day at work all that bad for us? Who has not held TV marathons to watch a whole season of his favorite show on DVD or spend an entire lazy Saturday in pajamas with a remote in hand?

It’s relaxing to tune into our favorite show or explore the wonders of cable.

Americans are obsessed with their televisions though. For goodness sakes, we even have TiVo to catch our favorite shows and screens in recreation centers to make sure we don’t miss our latest episodes while working out.

A New York Times article drew attention to the findings of an Australian study published on Jan. 11 in the online circulation journal of the American Heart Association. It may lead you to think otherwise.

The study followed 8,800 adults, 25 years old or older, for more than six years. Researchers calculated each daily hour spent watching television was associated with an 18 percent increase in death from heart disease and an 11 percent increase in overall mortality.

Viewers who tune in two hours or less a day are 46 percent more likely to die of any cause versus those who watched four or more hours a day, who had an 80 percent more likely chance to die from heart disease.

The study did not consider smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, diet, leisure-time exercise and waist circumference.

But wait, there’s more.

Television is just about America’s favorite pastime.

There are 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and 2.55 people, according to Nielson Media Research in a USA Today article from Sept. 9, 2006.

The same article reported that a television is on for more than a third of the day, eight hours and 14 minutes, in the average home.

It also stated the average person watches four hours and 35 minutes of TV each day.

The U.S. Census Bureau calculated that the average person (12 years and older) in 2000 spent 4.1 hours in front of the TV each day or 1,502 hours a year. It is estimated that 4.7 hours, 1,704 a year, on average would be watched in 2008.

My parents have eight televisions in a four-person household.

The numbers are a bit much, I know, but yikes! Couch potatoes beware! No, America – beware!

I must admit, watching TV for me is a luxury. I am lucky if I watch four hours a week, but what about many of us who are on the computer for four hours or more a day?

I know I am.

The study does not mention other sedentary activities like working on the computer or reading, and it leaves me wondering.

Are we all doomed an early death, including a huge workforce who sit behind computers in cubicles, as well as the chronic television viewers?

Who knows? The very concept stresses me out. In the mean time, I think I will tune out, and tune in to my favorite television show.

Colleen Kitka can be reached at 581-7942 or crkitka@eiu.edu