It’s a know fact that smokers tend to live shorter lives than nonsmokers. In fact, smoking two cigarettes a day can shorten your life by about 22 minutes.

Now what if I told you that watching TV could do the same.

Couch potatoes, listen up!

Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia found that after the age of 25, watching an hour of TV a day can shorten a life by about 22 minutes–the same as smokers!

Great. Most of us qualify for shortened life!

Don’t panic yet. It wasn’t TV that created the shortened life span.

The real story is that TV viewers are less active for long periods of time. The sedentary lifestyle common to TV viewers raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, overweight and other healthy issues. And of course, these healthy problems lead to earlier mortality.

So don’t donate those flat screens just yet. Get up and move and stay active. Your life may just depend on it.