Healthy Tip #5

The average American watches almost 5 hours of TV every day!  Challenge yourself to watch as little as possible, see if you can watch 1 hour or less per night.  Let yourself watch you favorite shows, but turn it off after that.  It is amazing how the television has an ability to suck you in.  Without realizing it you have been watching for hours.  In many cases you start with watching a show you enjoy, then it turns into what is the best thing on after that.  At the end of the night you might be able to build a robot or remodel your house (even though you don’t own any tools), you might know everything about all the celebrities (that you will never meet), or you might now know every punch line from you favorite movie (after watching it for the 100^th time.) 

Television is entertainment and it is designed to keep your attention.  Everything we do in life either builds us up or tears us down.  Positive things build us up and negative things break us down.  If you are watching a show ask yourself: is this building me up?  If not, turn it off.  Violence, drama, negativity, poor language.  What are we exposing to ourselves, our kids?  In addition to what the TV does to your mind, by sitting for that many hours per day and often eating while watching, it is no wonder as to why our society is becoming obese so rapidly.  If the average American cut that TV time in half and watched 2.5 hours and exercised the other half we would go from one of the most overweight countries to one of the fittest.

You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish by limiting TV hours.  

What can you do?

- Read a book

- Exercise

- Find a hobby

- Meditate

- Go on a family walk/ bike ride

- Play a game (not video games)

- Volunteer

- Listen to music

- Go to bed early and get the sleep that you and your family need

references-
http://www.gethealthylexington.com/