Early in 2010, I threw away my television. I never looked back. It was a great lifestyle decision.
Was there ever anything I wanted to watch on television? There was not much. I did miss live sporting events.
How did I watch these sporting events if I did not have television? I forced myself to go to the weight room. I hopped on a treadmill that was in front of a television and got my “hamster mentality” on. As long as I was moving, I could watch TV. It is certainly a large amount of moving, but it is well worth it! I eliminated to possibility of succumbing to temptations to be a couch potato, saved a ton of money, and incentivized cardiovascular workouts.
What is in this for you? I am not asking you to throw away your television. I will suggest some interior design ideas that can encourage more productivity and an increase in health benefits at home.
The first idea costs you no time at all. Simply move your coffee table away from your couch whenever you are watching TV. The extra space in front of you allows you to move around. During commercial breaks, you can stretch, perform abdominal exercises, do push-ups, do body-weight squats, and, if you have a lot of space and are really ambitious, do plyometric exercises.
The goal is to multitask while you are watching TV and maximize your efficiency. If you are able to relocate your television or if you are designing your home from scratch, I would recommend that you do not even place your TV in your living room. Locate your TV in your recreation room so you can have more space to move. Alternatively, you can locate your TV in your home office if it is absolutely necessary.
Remember that the goal is to eliminate bad habits. We want to multitask and promote physical activity. Try not to place your TV in your living room. Living rooms look a whole lot classier without them anyway.
Whatever you do, do NOT put a TV in your bedroom. Bedroom televisions strongly encourage sedentary behaviors, obviously. They are doubly harmful in that they disrupt sleeping patterns, thus disrupting your appetite which can cause you to eat more. Bedroom televisions hazardous to your health.
I may consider getting television service again in the future if cable companies would stop charging exorbitant rates and offer more a la carte options. If I do, I will certainly follow my advice here. Throwing away my television, though, was a great lifestyle decision.
I leave you with a classic song from the Red Hot Chili Peppers appropriately titled, “Throw Away Your Television.”
Throw away your television
Time to make this clean decision…
Renegades with fancy gauges
Slay the plague for it’s contagious
Pull the plug and take the stages
Throw away your television now
Throw away your television
Take the noose off your ambition
Reinvent your intuition now…
