Abstract

Purpose: The present investigation was conducted to assess the relationship between television viewing time and cardiorespiratory fitness. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Intermountain West. Participants: 302 middle-aged women. Method: TV viewing was assessed using a questionnaire. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using a maximal graded treadmill test. Physical activity (PA) was evaluated using Actigraph accelerometers worn over seven consecutive days, while body fat percentage (BF%) was measured using air displacement plethysmography (Bod Pod). Results: (Mean ± SD) age: 40.2 ± 3.0 years. VO2max of the frequent (≥ 3hrs/day) TV group (32.6 ± 6.4) was significantly lower than both the moderate (1-2 hrs/day) (36.2 ± 7.2) and infrequent (<1hr/day) (36.5 ± 6.5) TV groups (F = 8.0, P = 0.0004). The infrequent and moderate groups did not differ significantly from each other. Differences in age, education, BMI, and season of assessment had no influence on the relationship when controlled individually. Adjusting for differences in physical activity (F = 4.2, P = 0.0157) weakened the relationship by 59.4%, and adjusting for differences in BF% (F = 5.0, P = 0.0071) weakened the association by 58.5%, but in both cases, the relationships remained significant. After controlling for both PA and BF% simultaneously (F = 2.9, P = 0.0572), the relationship was weakened by 80.7% and was only borderline significant. Conclusion: Frequent female TV viewers have significantly lower cardiorespiratory fitness levels than moderate or infrequent viewers. This association appears to be largely a function of differences in both PA and BF%.

Degree

College and Department

Life Sciences; Exercise Sciences

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