There’s more than that meets the eye

By Sajitha Prematunge

Just imagine a world where you don’t even have to twitch a muscle to get things done, a place and time where you didn’t even have to reach out for that remote control to channel surf. Sort of like on board Axiom in Walle. E ha?

Well some people are pretty much on their way to becoming couch potatoes already! With the abandonment of our active life styles for desk jobs and household work for soaps in front of the TV, couch potatoes have become an invasive species, even right here in Sri Lanka. Sunday Observer decided to find out just what makes these couch potatoes tick.

Sunethra, a retired mother has her TV in her own room, a defining feature of couch potato. Consequently nothing has stopped her from turning into a couch potato. When asked about the number of hours she watches TV she gave an entire program line-up. “On weekday mornings I watch TV from 6.30 to 8.00 am, evenings I watch news, soaps, teledramas like a prayer!” She explained enthusiastically.

“I used to watch all those doctor programs as well. I simply love them. But they have changed the times now.” But according to her that’s not all she watches. She watches almost everything that grabs her fancy. Everything from gardening to political debates. Sunethra said that she rarely misses these programs and hates it when she is forced to.

Therese Fernando explained how her daughter was on the brink of turning into a complete couch potato. Being an only child, as Therese explained, her daughter has been a little bit on the reserved side.

She was addicted to the life of a couch potato to the extent that she didn’t want to step out of the house. But being an understanding mother familiar with child psychology, Theres tolerated this. “She watched mostly cartoons. I personally believe that cartoons are pretty healthy. They take you to a world of imagination.” Apart from cartoons she watched cookery programs.

“Not that she could cook, but she can eat!” She constantly munched on junk food like sausages, chicken, chocolate. “Going to the table to get food was not an option for her.” Therese explained that it was never greed that drove her almost over the edge. “I think it was an outlet for her to vent out her frustrations.” She explained that she was a busy business woman and her husband was also very busy.

“She couldn’t connect with us, since we were so busy.” said Therese, now the wiser for her mistakes. Her daughter never had the chance to mix with other people of her age. Then a latter from her daughter got her attention. She found communication so difficult that she wrote a letter to her own mother.

It said that she was so frustrated, that she had no one to talk to and no one her age to call a friend. This out-of-the-blue outburst caused Therese to change the way she handled her daughter completely. “At sixteen I gave her a phone, at eighteen internet so she could connect to people. And her husband was such a connection.” Said Therese laughing.

Best selling author and medical doctor, Priyanga de Zoysa, agrees with Therese’s notion that a couch potatoing is a vent for frustration. As the doctor explains “it helps to relieve stress. Although it may irritate others around them.” It could also be the absence of a larger purpose or goals in life.

In which case couch potatoing becomes a way of passing time. Normally a couch potato is a person who spends most of his or her free time sitting or lying on a couch, watching TV.

Often these people are lazy, don’t get enough exercise and are over weight. One of the characteristic features of the couch potato syndrome is eating - munching on something while watching TV, often resulting in obesity.

Consequently acute couch potato syndrome can have serious health hazards. “It could lead to heart disease, diabetes and its symptoms include chronic fatigue with no apparent physically demonstrable illness.

In fact, it has been found that, couch potatoes age faster. A couch potato would be a decade older than a person of the same age who is physically more active. The doctor warned that it will become a health, personal and a social problem if it goes beyond an occasional incident.

“What one should consider is that whether one is doing it at the expense of one’s health.” If so immediate remedial action is required. He suggested that developing a inclination to something other than watching TV - for example gardening, going to the mall or even window shopping! - could help, but avoid elevators at all cost, always use the stairs.

Basically do something that will keep you off your feet. “Organized exercise is not a must as long as you keep yourself physically active.” Couch potatoes will not prefer organized workouts.

Substitute eating with drinking water. “Place the water so that you’d have to get up and walk to get it.” Stop stocking the refrigerator with snacks, doctor’s orders! Organize your daily routine so as to avoid TV time.

He warned that any person who does a desk job and eats a lot can develop heart disease, diabetes and chronic fatigue. The remedy - running errands, walking, anything that requires a change of posture.

But he also said that others around people who display such behaviour should make it easier for them to practice healthy habits. “Harassing people, labelling them as couch potatoes could lead to a vicious cycle.”

They could get more depressed and end up becoming chronic couch potatoes. Oops! made that mistake a couple of times in this article myself. I take it all back. “A better way is to organise a schedule of activities that will require them to move around.”

(Few names have been changed)