That's Fit

There are a lot of reasons to turn off the TV. One, if you're watching it, you're probably not moving. Two, if you're watching it, you might be digging face first into a bag of chips (not that I know anyone who does that ... ahem). And three, a recent study found that the dust on your TV screen might contain toxic chemicals.

Flame retardant is used in many household products these days, including TVs, but also in mattresses, carpet padding, and computer products. It also shows up in household dust, for reasons that, previously, experts couldn't explain. But what researchers in this study found was that TV dust contains high levels of flame retardant, leading them to believe that the heat of the television set vaporizes the retardant, allowing it to settle back onto the TV and surrounding furniture.

This is a big deal, environmentally speaking, because as of next February, TV broadcasts are going digital. When old sets get thrown away, the environment will bear the brunt of the additional chemical load. The researchers in this study didn't give any tips for how minimizing the issue in your own home. I'm not sure this is enough information to keep me from watching the season finale of Lost, but it is something to mull over. What do you think?

We often talk about making small, livable changes to create a healthier lifestyle. Here's a simple move that can help your child avoid a sedentary lifestyle and possibly even do better in school -- take their TV out of their bedrooms.

In one study of 80 kids in Buffalo, young children who had a TV in their bedroom watched nine more hours of TV a week than kids who did not. A French study found that kids without TVs in their bedrooms were learner than those with televisions, and that kids with TVs in their rooms spent less time reading. A study in California found that kids who didn't have TVs in their room scored higher on achievement tests, and yet another study linked bedroom TVs with teenage smoking.

TVs in the bedroom may interfere with sleep, outdoor playtime, socializing, and of course, study time, not to mention the fact that when your kids are in their room with their door shut, you have no idea what they're watching. Like the computer, these studies make it seem like it's a good idea to place TVs in a family area only. What do you think?

What exactly is VirtualGym TV? It's an online gym with a huge variety of top quality instructors, and when you subscribe, you have access to all those instructors and all of their "classes" at your convenience. Oh, and all of this is available at a fraction of the cost of a gym membership. Sound good?

Well, I think it has some good possibilities, but as to their claim of being the future of personal fitness ... I'm not entirely convinced. This is a great option for companies that want to provide fitness opportunities for their employees who are scattered across various locations, making the provision of gym memberships difficult. And, for the motivated but busy individual, it could probably work.

That's right! The most powerful woman on television, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, will soon have even more power and presence on the tube. Teaming up with Discovery Communications who owns, Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC and more...OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. will launch in 2009.

A press release from Discovery Communications states, "The new multi-platform media venture will be designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives. OWN will debut in 2009 in more than 70 million homes, on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel. The venture will also include the award-winning digital platform, Oprah.com."

Growing up, I probably spent way too much time in front of a television set than I should have. But nowadays cartoons are out and everything else is in! Personally, I've stopped watching a lot of TV because I just don't feel productive after soaking up all those glorious moving images. If you've been wanting to break the habit of excessive television in your life, this article may be for you.

Here's a really great tip if you like to watch TV during dinner: Turn it off and indulge in the subtleties of food! I know so many people who do this. Whether they want a little entertainment or something to break the silence, television is the jester in the room. But if you turn off all the distractions, you can take in all the aromas, color and taste. Also consider that it's easy to over-eat if you're not concentrating on all that food in front of you. That's two benefits in one!

Another excellent piece of advice is to plan an escape route. If you've got a specific show you always watch, get an idea to do something immediately after. This limits your chances of channel surfing when it's done, wasting time on TV shows you didn't plan on watching anyway. Television is not evil -- especially during college football season. But it's easy to see how it can absorb your attention, free time and health. Check out the other "TV Dieting" tips if you want to learn ways to cut back a little!

FitSpirit explores the mind-body connection and the intangible benefits we gain from our efforts to stay physically fit.

Ever watch the FOX television hit Ally McBeal, that quirky little uplifting show about a young female lawyer working in a firm fraught with melodrama? I did.

What I remember most about Ally McBeal, which ran from 1997 to 2002, is an episode called "Theme of Life," in which Ally's therapist, played by Tracy Ullman, tells her client she needs a theme song -- a song she can play in her head to make her feel better when life goes awry. Dr. Clark (Ullman) has a song -- "Tracy" (like her name) by the Cufflinks -- and Ally, played by Calista Flockhart, soon chooses her own song. She picks "Tell Him," by The Exciters. Before long, she starts hearing the song in her head and when it happens, her shoulders begin to move, her body starts to sway, her whole sense of being becomes lighter, and happier.

Do you have a theme song? One you play in your head, on your car stereo, on your iPod? If not, you might want to choose one to accompany you on your journey toward health and fitness. The right song can jolt you into the perfect exercise state of mind. It can motivate you to achieve your diet goals. The right song can be motivating, energizing, downright inspiring. You should have one. I should too.

TV is addictive and no matter how much I preach about how you should turn off the TV and go to the gym already, I know a few of you won't be willing to give up your favourite shows to go to the gym.

If this is the case for you, it's important to figure out a compromise. How about working out in front of the TV? I'm sure we'd all love to be able to buy an elliptical trainer and place it in front of the TV, but since that ain't going to happen, here's a list of easy exercises you can do in front of the telly. Or take a hint from our friends at Sisters Skinny and hold the ab-sculpting plank while the commercial breaks are on.

How do you stay fit when your favourite shows are on?

New research says that boys of preschool age are likely to become more aggressive later in life if exposed to violence on television.

Imagine that -- kids incorporating violence in a key developmental stage of life and becoming more like what they have observed as preschoolers later on. Sounds completely logical, and it -- again -- reminds us all to watch what our kids are viewing on television.

Oddly, girls were unaffected by violence on television when viewed at the same age. Are you selective about what you let your small boys watch on TV these days?

If you're of the mind that television can mold a toddler's mind in the wrong direction, a new study says that some shows don't cause future attention problems in kids who spend hours in front of the boob tube.

Shows like "Barney" and "Arthur" as okay for kids under age three (who generally should not be watching television), but shows like "Rugrats" and "Power Rangers" should be off limits, according to the research.

The problem? Shows should be educational to be available to toddlers, not full of zany cartoon characters that a child witnesses over and over during a crucial time in brain development.

Moments ago, after her very athletic Dancing with the Stars routine on Live television, Marie Osmond passed out and fell back on stage. Tom Bergeron, while shocked, kept it together enough to call for a commercial break. Now that the break is over, Marie confessed it happens sometimes "when she's working really hard and forgets to breath". Makes us trainers seem less silly for coaching our clients to breath regularly, huh? First words out of Marie's mouth when she came to were "Oh crap!"

The TV might be the best way to entertain a reckless toddler, but studies show that once your child hits 5, you should stop using the TV as a babysitter and start implementing time restrictions on kids in order to foster healthy habits in them later in life. Turning off the TV will encourage your kids to be more active -- for life.

I can tell you that this works. From the time I was 5 until I was about 13, my parents imposed a limit of one TV show a day. Two decade later, I still only watch one TV show a day -- if that. I would much rather spend my downtime outside, with friends and family, or doing something productive.

What do you think is an acceptable limit for kid TV-watching?

Turning off the tube is a great practice for many parents, but unfortunately, many use the device as a pacifier and/or babysitter. The thing is, more television viewing can lead to increased behavioral problems, according to a new study.

Two or more hours of watching television was found to lead to more behavioral issues in younger kids, including sleep, attention, and aggressive behavior problems. The kids that were observed for the study ranged in age from two-and-a-half to five-and-a-half.

But, even more disturbing, the research showed that those children aged at five-and-a-half developed fewer social skills if permitted to watch more than two hours of TV per day. Moral of the story: cut down on that television watching for those younger kids. Come to think of it, we could all use less of the tube in our daily lives.

This almost sounds like a mistake: a TV network telling watchers to turn off the television to go outside and play. But, that is exactly what children's network Nickelodeon did this past Saturday in an effort to encourage kids to get some exercise in the annual "day of play" that many observed around the globe.

This is a great example of trying to do the right thing for kids of all ages. Television has been called the 'great babysitter' for ages, but there is no substitute for supervised play outside for the health and vitality of that growing child.

Did you participate in this last Saturday? The dead air began at noon PDT and the network featured the case history of a chubby kid who used to play video games and sit in front of the television all hours of the day. After joining the "Let's Just Play Go Healthy Challenge" program, the youth dropped 40 pounds (40?) learned to swim and ride a bike. Those are both excellent activities for youth fitness.

Depending on how much you know about health care and the medical field you may or may not notice all the missteps that happen regularly on TV shows. Despite the occasional mispronunciation of a medical term by an actor, the "hollywoodizing" (yeah, I know that's not actually a word) goes much deeper. The most commonly exaggerated or misrepresented issues are:

• Organ donation
• Nurses roles
• Range of doctors' expertise
• Frequency of hospital romances

We all know that TV isn't real, and that everything is sensationalized for entertainment value. But it is sad that organ donation specifically is often portrayed negatively -- people have a hard enough time making that decision!

The invention of the TV seems to coincide perfectly with our downfall as a healthy and active society, and most of the news you hear linking health and TV are not on "the boob tube's" side. But unless you're willing to move to the mountains, live off the earth, and become a hermit there's really no avoiding the TV altogether. We need some TV, if just to stay educated and in touch, right?

Well here's one article that agrees. In a recent study TV watching was actually shown to help healthy habits, not hinder them. Of course what you're watching matters, and the study was fairly limited in that it only tracked people watching one program: ER. But it seems that after people watched a series of ER episodes involving a teenager with high blood pressure who was advised to exercise and eat more fruits and veggies they were 65% more likely to make healthy changes to their diet. And it was also noted that after Oprah made mention of a Chinese weight loss tea the hits to the website skyrocketed.

So we know television is a powerful tool, now if we could just figure out how to use it for good! When an ER episode is followed by a Burger King commercial do they cancel each other out?