Depression suffering men likelier to become couch potatoes than women

Washington: Researchers have said that young men, who have suffered from early depression, are more vulnerable than women to spending many hours in front of a screen later on.

A study of 761 adults in Montreal who were identified at the age of 20 as suffering from the symptoms of depression (in 2007-08) were asked by researchers to keep track of how much leisure time they spent in front of a TV or a computer screen (playing games or using the internet) four years later on (in 2011-12) when they were 24. What the researchers discovered were some striking differences between young men and young women.

The researchers found that young men on average spent about four hours more online or watching TV each week than young women did.

But also that the total number of hours spent in front of a screen, whether it was the computer or the TV, was over 21 hours per week or over three hours a day. This is more than twice the level of screen-time recommended by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology for children and adolescents.

The researchers found this information particularly disturbing for two reasons: sedentary behavior is on the rise among the young and influences later behavior; also, because young people weren’t asked about their use of cell/smart-phones and tablets or the time that they spent reading, the researchers believe that they may be spending even more time being sedentary than these figures suggest.

The study has been published in the journal Preventive Medicine.