Time on Facebook

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It may sound funny, but obesity is directly related to the amount of time one spends being inactive. Your body needs exercise and being online hours on ends allows little time for exercise. As per a recent report on obesity in the US, around two thirds of the adult population and as many as one third of all kids are obese.

You may ask what has Facebook to do with increasing obesity in the US. Well, think again! Ask yourself this: How much of your time are you spending on Facebook?

If you are a teenager or in your early thirties or mid forties, chances are you are spending at least 2 hours of your time on Facebook. That simply means that you are adding 2 unproductive hours to your sedentary lifestyle.

For most of us, our day begins with Facebook and ends with Facebook. The time you could have spent getting fresh morning air outside your home, walking or jogging in the park, is now spent sitting in front of your computer, checking Facebook messages, and updating your status!

After a tiring day at office, you could wind up and relax exercising or simply walking down a street…instead, we end up checking what’s happened with our friends during the day, when we’d not able to check our FB account!

The story doesn’t end here- A survey indicates that more and more people are tuning in to Facebook to play games…by the famous zygna, and boast about their scores to their so called ‘friends’. Now here comes the twist…People are not only wasting hours and hours getting farther away from the reality, but when they play games or chat with friends on Facebook, they have a habit of munching away chips and other junk food.

Let’s get factual. As per internet world stats 2010, 43% of the US population are active Facebook users, as compared to just 5.9% in the rest of the world. 44.6% of the population in California uses Facebook, and 24.4% of its population is obese! While in case of Illinois, it has 54.8% Facebook users, and the obesity percentage is 26.6%!

It may be difficult to establish a direct correlation between Facebook users and obesity, as one may argue that obesity depends on a number of factors including food habits, lifestyle and so on,  nevertheless, the fact remains that the more time you spend on Facebook, the more time you remain glued to your seat, and you lose time that you could have spent in other activities.

By spending hours and hours on Facebook, you are refraining from simple pleasures of life. When was the last time you skipped a jumping rope with your kid? Or do you remember the last time you had a hearty laugh with your friend or a family member?

Avoid Facebook with measured time, and you will see a positive signs in your life. Instead of checking what’s happening in the lives of your friends, go for a walk with your family member or a friend. You will feel refreshed!

Instead of spending time in updating your status, take a brisk walk for 20 minutes every day, and you will see the fat melting away. With a healthy lifestyle, diseases will keep away from you.

Remember, just like people are addicted to drinking or smoking, Facebook too is an addiction. The difference here is, it is a silent killer, and unless you proactively try to stop it intruding in your personal life, you will not succeed in getting rid of this addiction.

I am not asking you to cut off from Facebook. Sure you can get in touch with a distant friend on Facebook, but if Facebook leads to obesity and other concerns associated with it, you’d better off keeping away from Facebook.