TV is gone

Well, I've done it. I have given my TV away. It is the first evening without the box and so far so good.

I had a nice visit with my son in the afternoon and a lovely knitting group for two hours in the evening.

Now, for the first time since coming back from America, I think I'll make myself comfortable with a new book, "The Hundred Year House".

I don't mind getting up early but can only do that if I go to bed on time. No more falling asleep in front of the boob tube. When reading, I notice myself getting sleepy better than in front of the TV. There, I fall asleep and wake up hours later.

It's worth a try.

August 28: So far, so great! You'd think I would be embarking on an amazing adventure! Last evening, I knitted on a sweater, listened to a great TED talk with Shawn Achor and started his book "Before Happiness", reviewed some Italian words and made a healthy dinner instead of snacking in front of the TV. This could be a revival of quality evenings.

And I woke up positive this morning at 4:40!

August 30: It's happening! My theory proved correct that cutting out the TV (option) would help me control what I eat. In other words, help prevent mindless snacking. Upon weighing myself this morning, I had reached the 68s. Last week, I was still in the 70s!

Otherwise, the evenings never seem long enough to do all the things I've planned. With TV, I didn't plan anything.

September 7: Goodness! My evenings are filled with hobbies instead of watching boring TV shows. I painted this evening, knitted part of a baby sweater (anybody out there expecting?), worked on my seminar for Tuesday, read part of Damasio's Descartes' Error and enjoyed the last few days of summer out on the balcony.

September 28: Did I ever have a television?! With a television, I vegetated. Without it, I run the danger of free-time stress! So much to do and so little time. With TV, I didn't even care. 

November 2: It is so good that I have no TV. About 5 times this weekend, I got the urge to chill in front of it. It's a kind of escape really. If everything gets to be too much, I could hide in my armchair and watch anything that moves. I never realized it.

Now, I notice the "I have to escape!" feelings as what they are - stress indicators. So I sit down, make a list of all the things that are haunting me and just look at it. Having the stressors out in front of me takes the unsettling feeling away. If I then set priorities and make a plan, I feel much better. 

Then, I set off to do the most important things or just sit in my armchair without the TV. 

A round of chilling anyone?

Study: High-action TV shows lead to more snacking

By Kathryn Doyle

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Watching high-energy TV programs might make watching calories harder, a new study suggests.

With snacks freely available, young adults watching an action movie ate almost twice as much food as those watching an interview show, the researchers found.

Those watching the action movie ate more even if the sound was turned off.

“What we found was that even watching the silent film generated a large increase in what people ate compared to the talk show,” said coauthor Aner Tal at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

He and his colleagues divided 94 college students into three TV-watching groups. One group watched 20 minutes of the 2005 science fiction action thriller The Island, directed by Michael Bay, another watched 20 minutes of the PBS interview program Charlie Rose, and the third watched The Island with the sound off.

As Tal and his colleagues note in their research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine September 1, The Island averages more than 24 camera cuts per minute and Charlie Rose has only 4.8 cuts per minute.

The students each had access to bowls of M&Ms, carrots, cookies and grapes and could eat as much as they wanted.

Students watching The Island with sound ate 207 grams of food on average, compared to 104 grams for those watching Charlie Rose. Over the 20-minute period, action movie watchers consumed 354 calories, 104 calories more than talk show watchers.

Even without sound, students watching The Island ate 40 more grams and 100 more calories than those watching Charlie Rose.