Overweight? It Could Be the Internet's Fault
A new study shows too much time online expands waistlines, even for people who exercise.
If you really want to win the weight-loss battle, learn to strike a balance—not just on your plate, but also in how you spend your free time. A new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research finds that people who spend more time in front of computers have a higher obesity risk, even if they think they get enough exercise during the week.
The details: The researchers surveyed 2,650 Australian adults and asked them questions about their levels of physical activity, Internet and computer use during leisure time, and other sedentary activities, such as reading, talking on the phone, playing video games or watching television. Internet use and physical activity were divided into three categories: none, low (less than three hours per week) and high (more than three hours); sedentary activities were divided into low (less than 2.5 hours), medium (2.5 to 5 hours per week) and high (more than five hours).
People with the highest levels of computer use were 1.5 times more likely to be overweight and 2.5 times more likely to be obese than people who didn't use a computer at all. Those people were also more likely to report lower levels of physical activity, and were 2.5 times more likely to engage in more than five hours a day of other sedentary activities. But interestingly, adults who spent a lot of time at the computer and still had high levels of physical activity were 1.86 times more likely to be overweight or obese than people who spent no time in front of the computer.
Do you know your Body Mass Index (BMI)?
What it means: This study found only an association between weight and computer use. "Is it that you become overweight because you use the Internet a lot, or is it that overweight people simply use the Internet more?" says Corneel Vandelanotte, Ph.D., postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Health and Social Science Research at Central Queensland University. It's hard to say. But one likely explanation, she adds, is that "people who use the Internet a lot also engage more in other sedentary behaviors, and that is likely the main cause of their being more likely to be overweight."
Those additional sedentary activities may be throwing off your perceptions of your own exercise habits, too. "If I go running three times a week for one hour, but watch TV the rest of my time, I will still be very sedentary," says Vandelanotte. "I might be fit, which is definitely a good thing, but it might also be that I'm still not spending enough energy on a daily basis." Formal exercise can only partially compensate for all the time you spend sitting around, she adds. Including regular activity as part of your everyday routine is equally important.
It's all about striking a balance between sitting down and moving around, Vandelanotte says. Here are a few ways to keep computer time from undermining a healthy lifestyle:
5 ways to prevent overeating this weekend.
Set a timer
For your computer use, for your television watching, for anything that keeps you on the couch. The less time you spend not moving, the more likely you are to get a healthy, and perhaps waist-shrinking, dose of physical activity. Set time limits that will allow you to enjoy the Web sites or TV shows you like, without leaving time for unneeded browsing or channel surfing that just keeps you off your feet.
Be an active viewer
You might not be able to move around while sitting at the computer, but when you're watching TV, spend at least some of the time doing something physical, whether it's exercising or cleaning.
Aim for 250
Minutes, that is. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that to prevent weight gain, people spend 150 minutes per week exercising and 250 minutes per week if they want to lose weight. It's a lot easier to get those 250 minutes of exercise if you cut back on the time you spend in front of the computer.
Speak Out: Are you addicted to the Internet?
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Very informative article. Once again I am told what I might be doing wrong. However, why does the good doctor pose, "Is it that you become overweight because you use the Internet a lot, or is it that overweight people simply use the Internet more?"
I use to weigh more than a quarter-ton. Sedentary is a good word for how I lived and the lifestyle became worse as the numbers piled on. Recently, I've seen the scale inch forward. 201, 206, 208.6, then my wife's prodding last night, "Are you gaining weight?" as t.v. offered Jillian Michaels QuickStart Rapid Weight-Loss System. You can jump start your diet with Calorie Control, Fat Burner, and Detox & Cleanse!
This article informs the public what could be part of an overall problem, or maybe not. My job entails 36 hours at a FedEx computer. I've seen others at my job fluctuate 10 or 20 or 30 pounds, especially around the holidays. Still others never fluctuate at all. And one guy, he's never been overweight and eats an Italian sandwich each day. Simply put, with today's technology there is no cure for obesity. My hope, the public will treat the morbidly obese with respect. My own fear of weight-gain did not deter me from sitting down, reading the article, and writing at the computer. And now I have to go to work.
Everyday there is an article or a news story about how fat we are and how frightened we should be. So, if we stopped wasting time reading and listening to media stories that shout about the obesity epidemic would we have more time for exercise?
Sir , I thought that this report was for discussion about the disadvantage of to many hours
sat in front of a screen, but it seems to have been hijacked by advertisements for lose Inches
or lose thigh fat, I am of the opinion that these people should take their advertisements to the appropriate place. Any way back to the subject at hand, people do tend to spend to much
time wasting, watching television , computer games, mobile phones and any other bit of hard
ware that company's have invented to date, all in the name of profit! it's the world gone mad.
The baby was thrown out with the bath water a long time ago!! Yours Sincerely 
This article is like all of the others. If you are overweight (not including people with illnesses) it must be the fault of the internet, fast food, TV, advertisements... whatever it is it can't be the fact that a person just sits on his or her butt all day and then eats meals five times larger than a bear preparing for hibernation. I am 40, have a family, go to school events, work 40 to 50 hrs per week and still take time to care for myself. Is it easy? NO. It takes a lot of self discipline and work which many people feel is too much trouble. If you don't want to put forth the effort then don't complain when you gain weight and have poor health, you chose it so live with it.
Also these articles don't tell you that the government suggested BMI is so inaccurate that it can suggest a normal healthy person lose weight to the point of being sickly looking. That is usually blamed solely on magazine models. If you think this isn't true look at sports stars. Most are healthier, can run farther, have more endurance... and are far and gone from the BMI recommendations.
With personal effort and reasonable habits people can be different sizes and still be healthy. It's not rocket science just good common sense.
At my highest amount of internet activity, I was at my thinnest. I didn't get fat until I started spending most of my time working.
I think it was because when I was on the internet, I was playing around, having fun, and not even thinking about food. When I was working, I was so stressed that there was an oreo cookie or a donut in my mouth every thirty minutes.
(Thankfully, I've quit that job and found a nicer one since then.)I haven't gained weight in the last full five (5) years of being almost completely sedentary although I won't say that I haven't paid the price for it elsewhere. I am running a website on the topic and I have seen plenty of reasons to believe that weight gain or loss depends more on your diets and less on physical activities And this is irreversible. Try increasing both physical activities and fat intake and compare the results with another trial with reduced fat intake and physical activity and hands down, the latter trial will win.
I have always advised eating less (or semi starving your body but without actually starving the brain of its needs (proteins)).
Alevoor
Editor @
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