New research from scientists at the University of Minnesota shows that long hours spent watching television may increase your risks for a blood clot. According to the study, blood clots may form in the veins of people who spend too much time in front of the TV.

Blood clot forming in the vein is described as venous thromboembolism (VTE).

The starting points of these clots, are usually in the legs, but the clots can also travel to the lungs, causing a possibly fatal condition called pulmonary embolism.

The researchers explained that sitting for long periods of time can cause blood clots to form, because normal circulation of blood through the legs and feet is reduced.

To find out if binge-watching can increase the risk of blood clot, the researchers studied data from more than 15,000 Americans, aged 45 to 64, in a long-term study that stated in 1987.

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Almost 700 cases of VTE had occurred among the participants in 2011. Those who binge-watch had a 70% higher odds of developing one of the clots than people who never or rarely watched TV. This risk remained high even after factors such as the person’s weight or levels of exercise and other activities were taken into consideration.

Though the research result couldn’t automatically establish that it was the TV watching that caused the increase in clots, it could only point to an association.

Still, “even individuals who regularly engage in physical activity should not ignore the potential harms of prolonged In a journal news release, lead author Yasuhiko Kubota, of the University of Minnesota, said;

“Sedentary behaviors such as TV viewing, two heart specialists unrelated to the study agreed that couch potato lifestyles can certainly impact negatively on health”.

Dr. Maja Zaric is an interventional cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She said there’s certainly a connection between time spent watching TV and a person’s chances for blood clots, but she wished the research had been more specific about just how much TV time was involved.

Zaric noted out that participants simply estimated their TV viewing time as “never or seldom,” “sometimes,” “often” or “very often” and those valuations could be very biased.

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“It would be interesting to see how much actual time in hours was there in each category,” Zaric said. “There may be a different view on the amount of TV watching between an obese subject with advanced arthritis and chronic back pain and a appropriate subject at healthy weight.”

Chief of heart failure services at Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital, in Valley Stream, N.Y, Dr. David Friedman said this study shows that people ought to be more physically active. He suggested that people could improve aerobic physical fitness by watching their favourite TV program on their smart devices on the go, to reduce chances of blood clot forming.
Source: http://www.healthdiary365.com/2018/02/24/watching-too-much-tv-can-cause-blood-clot/