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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute?

Apart from working and sleeping, the thing Americans do the most is watch TV—five 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 analyzed¹ 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 diabetes². 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 prescription³, in this case, is simple, and side effects are rare: get off the couch⁴.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.