Every hour spent watching TV, DVDs and videos as an adult reduces life expectancy by almost 22 minutes, a study suggests. And viewing TV for an average of six hours a day can cut short your life by five years.

一项研究指出，成年人每看一小时电视、DVD或视频就会减少22分钟的寿命。每天平均看6小时电视会减寿5年。

The research claims that a sedentary lifestyle is as bad for health as smoking and obesity, because of the dangers posed by inactivity and the greater opportunities it offers for unhealthy eating.

该研究称，久坐的生活方式就跟抽烟和肥胖一样有害身体健康。因为久坐会对健康造成威胁，也会增加不良饮食的机率。

The academics conducting the study set out to calculate the overall risk to life expectancy from watching television. Their research involved more than 11,000 people over the age of 25.

学者们开展此项研究的目的是为了估算看电视对寿命的总体风险。他们的研究对象涵盖了年龄在25岁以上的1.1万多人。

Writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, they concluded:"TV viewing time may be associated with a loss of life that is comparable to other major chronic disease risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity."

他们在英国《运动医学》杂志上的文章得出结论说：“看电视的时间长短可能与寿命减少有关，而且这一因素并不亚于其他导致慢性疾病的主要风险因素，例如缺乏运动和肥胖。”

The researchers, from the University of Queensland, used information from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study, together with population and death rate data.

昆士兰大学的研究人员采用了来自澳大利亚糖尿病、肥胖和生活方式研究的数据，以及澳洲人口和死亡率的数据。

But they said: "While we used Australian data, the effects in other industrialised and developing countries are likely to be comparable, given the typically large amounts of time spent watching TV and similarities in disease patterns." In the UK, the average amount of time spent watching TV is four hours a day compared with five hours in the United States.

他们说：“尽管我们用的是澳大利亚的数据，但其影响同样适用于其他工业化和发展中国家，因为这些国家的人们通常看电视的时间也很多，疾病类型也比较相似。”在英国，人们平均每天花4小时的时间看电视，而美国人则每天看5小时电视。

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, said it was 'biologically plausible' that prolonged TV viewing results in disease and premature death. Other work suggests that sedentary behaviour is linked to obesity, high levels of bad blood fats and other heart disease risk factors, and more opportunities for grazing on junk foods.

位于波士顿的哈佛公共健康学院的研究人员说，看电视时间过长会导致疾病和早死，这在生物学上是讲得通的。其他研究也显示，久坐这一行为方式与肥胖、高血脂等多种心脏病风险因素相关，还会让人摄入更多垃圾食品。

Earlier this year, a separate study suggested the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease, or dying prematurely, rises by as much as 20 percent after just two hours a day in front of the box.

今年早些时候的一项独立研究发现，每天坐在电视机前2小时，患II型糖尿病、心脏病或过早死的机率就会上升20%。

England's Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, said: "Physical activity offers huge benefits and these studies back what we already know – that a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks. We hope these studies will help more people realise that there are many ways to get exercise."

英格兰首席卫生官莎莉•戴维斯说：“体力活动会带来极大的好处，这些研究也支持了我们早已知道的事情，也就是久坐的生活方式是危险的。我们希望这些研究能帮助更多人意识到锻炼的方式有很多种。”

Another study shows that exercising for just 15 minutes a day can increase your lifespan by up to three years. It can reduce the risk of early death by 14 percent, with each extra 15 minutes reducing all-cause death rates by 4 percent.

另一项研究显示，每天只需锻炼15分钟就可以延长3年寿命，还会使过早死的机率降低14%。每多运动15分钟就能使各种病因导致的死亡率下降4%。

词汇学习：
sedentary: (of people) spending a lot of time sitting down and not moving（人）惯于久坐不动的
plausible: seemingly or apparently valid, likely, or acceptable; credible 貌似有理的
graze: <口> 吃零食
type 2 diabetes: II型糖尿病，是各种致病因素的作用下，经过漫长的病理过程而形成的，也叫成人发病型糖尿病，多在35-40岁之后发病。