Increase your life expectancy with a twist of your wrist

In an eight-year study, researchers in Spain have found that you can increase your longevity with a simple wrist motion. Using only one hand.

The wrist motion: Turn off your television.

The research that looked at the lifestyle habits of more than 13,000 people during eight years found that watching TV for three hours or more daily doubled the risk of premature death during the study.

“Television viewing is a major sedentary behavior and there is an increasing trend toward all types of sedentary behaviors,” says researcher Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. “Our findings are consistent with a range of previous studies where time spent watching television was linked to mortality.”

The risk of death was doubled for people who reported watching three or more hours of TV each day compared to folks who watched an hour or less.

“As the population ages, sedentary behaviors will become more prevalent, especially watching television, and this poses an additional burden on the increased health problems related to aging,” Martinez-Gonzalez says. “Our findings suggest adults may consider increasing their physical activity, avoid long sedentary periods, and reduce television watching to no longer than one to two hours each day.”