Apart from working and sleeping, the thing Americans do the most is watch TV—5 hours a day on average. But all that time in front of the tube may up your risk of death, according to a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers analyzed eight previous studies looking at the effects of TV on health. Together, the studies followed more than 200,000 volunteers over about a decade of their lives, and controlled for other risk factors, like age and smoking. The take-home? For every two hours of TV per day, subjects had a 15 percent higher risk of heart disease and a 20 percent higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. That translates to a city of a million people having 1760 extra cases of diabetes compared to a city of a million who watch two hours less TV per day.

Previous studies have associated other sedentary activities, like sitting at a desk, with health risks. But the researchers say there's something unique about TV. Not only are we not exercising, but we tend to snack while watching. The prescription, in this case, is simple, and side effects are rare: get off the couch.

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研究显示，每天花两小时或以上闲暇时间看电视或是对着荧幕的人，患上心脏疾病和死亡的风险比一般人高出一倍。英国研究员分析了参与苏格兰健康调查的4512名成人所提供的数据，结果发现，每天下班后还花两小时或以上时间看电视、用电脑或玩电子游戏的人，面对死亡的风险比每天花两小时以下时间在这些闲暇活动上的人高了48%。他们患上心血管疾病如心脏爆发的风险，也高了125%。