Television is a black hole into which much of your precious time disappears. In many respects, your time is the most important commodity you have in life. Trust me, when you are on your deathbed someday you will not be saying, “If only I had watched more TV.” The major life regrets for most people turn out not to be the things they have done, but instead the things they haven’t done—the dreams they never followed, the missed opportunities, the time they didn’t spend with the people they loved.
“In the game of life, even seats on the 50 yard line don’t interest me. I came to play”.
H. Jackson Brown
At point A you are delivered into this wonderful world squinting and screaming and full of potential. At point B, you are history. What you do with those 30,000 (plus or minus a few thousand) days is up to you. You aren’t going to live forever, though we sometimes get lulled into acting as though life were just a dress rehearsal.
Television is a black hole into which much of your precious time disappears. In many respects, your time is the most important commodity you have in life. Trust me, when you are on your deathbed someday you will not be saying, “If only I had watched more TV.”
The major life regrets for most people turn out not to be the things they have done, but instead the things they haven’t done—the dreams they never followed, the missed opportunities, the time they didn’t spend with the people they loved. People who are well-read are often intelligent and are generally admired, but being “well viewed” won’t do much for you except make you overweight and boring.
You burn more calories on an hourly basis sleeping than you do channel surfing with the remote. Television (like other passive screen-viewing activities) is a slippery slope that hypnotizes us into wasting a substantial proportion of our waking free time.
Television has become a major distraction from the real world and often intrudes upon our tranquility and inner peace. TV, movies, the computer and the internet create an artificial world that sets the stage for disappointment, as the real world is usually not as exciting or fast moving. The title of a book by Neal Postman— “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” captures the downside of our excessive screen time. This national pastime has become an addiction fueled by the billions of dollars of marketing muscle.
TV now permeates nearly every segment of our lives including stores, airports, waiting rooms, emergency rooms, restaurants, bars, workout facilities and most rooms in our homes. Television news programs are generally full of disturbing images of violence and crime. Although these stories and pictures are almost always irrelevant to your own life, they can cause undue emotional stress and leave you with a sense of fear and distrust.
You will get out of life what you put into it; TV requires nothing from you and gives you nothing in return. The things you do, people you meet, the places you go, the books you read and the adventures you experience will be the fuel that powers your personal growth. Investing your free time in television viewing is, for the most part, a one-way street to a bland and mind-numbing existence. Vicarious television shows displace real life with a 24/7 stream of images and fabricated stories. Rather than experiencing the lasting richness and fullness of real life, many Americans settle for sitting in front of a flickering screen as the time of their lives runs like fine sand through an hourglass.
Mr. Timothy Dumouchel threatened to sue a company that provided free cable for over four years despite multiple attempts to cancel the service. He explained, “I believe the reason I smoke and drink and my wife is overweight is because we watched TV everyday for the last four years.”
Your life is defined by the choices you make. Our patients often complain that they have no time for exercise and eating right, yet the average American watches about three to four hours of TV daily. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that your chances of being obese go up 23 percent for every two hours of TV viewing per day, and go down 24 percent for every one hour of exercise per day. The answer to your weight problem is as simple as turning off the TV and going outside to play.
Don’t get me wrong. The TV is often on around the O’Keefe household, and occasionally we do sit down at the end of the day to watch it for a few minutes. Television is a great way to relax after a long day, and the internet will continue to revolutionize our lives for decades to come. It becomes a problem when TV or video games become the major way you spend your leisure time. Excess viewing is a vicious cycle whereby the more you watch, the more you weigh, the less energy you have and all the more sedentary you become.
If you want to be a person who makes things happen rather than one who sits around wondering what happened, cutting back on your viewing time is a great place to start.
My philosophy is to save TV and computer time for the day when my options are limited—when I am too sick or debilitated to go out and play, or to enjoy an evening out with Joan, or to climb a mountain and watch the clouds sail overhead. When I am forced to settle for a vicarious lifestyle of just watching, I will. Until then, I don’t care if I ever see another television program. Life is short. Don’t just watch it. Do it.
"A ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are made for."
Heart Institute Research Reveals Risks for Athletes
You might think that highly trained athletes would be the least likely to be at risk for sudden cardiac death, but research conducted at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute shows that may not be the case. And to some degree, race can influence the likelihood of cardiac abnormalities.
Physicians Strive to Prevent Sudden Death in Athletes
As the father of four active, healthy children, I can only imagine how devastating it would be for one of them to die suddenly from a heart ailment. And yet, a little more than a year ago, my good friend and mentor Bob Conn, went through just such a tragedy when his 22-year-old grandson, Jordan Mann, died suddenly.
10 Tips for Staying Lean Through the Holiday Season
The holiday season may be hazardous to your health.Studies show that Americans typically gain about seven pounds over the holiday season each year, and some of it stays on permanently despite the New Year's resolutions to get it off. Even more worrisome are reports showing increased risks of heart attack, dangerous cardiac rhythms, and even death during the holidays. Emotional stress, depression, over-eating, not enough exercise, and too much salt and alcohol are all likely to be playing a role. Make sure you and your family stay healthy and happy this year by following these 10 rules for safely navigating the holiday hazards.
