Watching sport on television, physical activity, and risk of obesity in older adults

Mark Hamer,Richard Weiler,Emmanuel Stamatakis

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-10

Abstract

BackgroundTelevision (TV) viewing has been associated with obesity although the effects of specific TV content on health and other behaviours remains unknown. We examined the association between watching sport on TV, physical activity levels, and risk of obesity.MethodsWe studied 6,733 (aged 64.9 ± 9.2 yrs) men and women from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a prospective study of community dwelling older adults. Data were collected on self reported TV time and content, and physical activity. Nurses measured height and weight for the calculation of body mass index.ResultsOn average, participants reported viewing TV for 5.3 ± 4.1 hours per day and 30.3% of the sample watched sport on TV at least twice a week. There was no association between watching sport and physical activity levels. Participants that watched sports every day were at higher risk of obesity [odds ratio = 1.39, 95% CI, 1.15, 1.68) after adjustment for age, sex, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, total TV time, disability, and self-rated health.ConclusionsWatching elite athletes may have no role in the promotion of physical activity in older adults, which has implications for staging large sporting events with physical activity legacy promises.

Highlights

Television (TV) viewing has been associated with obesity the effects of specific TV content on health and other behaviours remains unknown
Participants and study design We studied 6,733 men and women from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), an ongoing cohort study that contains a nationally representative sample of the English population living in households [10]
There was no association between watching sport and physical activity levels (p-trend = 0.19) ; in comparison with participants watching sport once or less a week, those that watched sport twice or more a week (OR =1.15, 95% confidence intervals (CI), 0.98 – 1.34), or daily (OR =1.01, 95% CI, 0.83 – 1.24) were no more likely to be active, after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, alcohol, total daily TV time, impairments in activities of daily living (ADL)/Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and self rated health

Summary

Introduction

Television (TV) viewing has been associated with obesity the effects of specific TV content on health and other behaviours remains unknown. Whilst the effects of specific TV content on behaviours remains unknown, food and beverage advertising are commonplace at major sporting events [7], which have been linked to eating habits and obesity [8]. It has, been suggested that watching sporting events, such as the Olympics, may inspire individuals to take up sports, become more physically active and justify staging of such events with physical activity legacy promises [9]. The aim of this study was to examine the association

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