Do pensioners sit down watching television too much.

In the care home my aunt is in I notice that most of the residents do not have their televisions on even though most of them are quite capable of turning them on and off if they want to watch. The big television in the main lounge is only on occasionally and when it is on it is showing DVDs rather than showing current programmes.

ajenela - I live in France, watch a lot of TV and also spend a lot of time exploring, walking and travelling to different countries. Difficult to generalise, isn't it?

Nah..it's the other way round absent only those in a fairly advanced state of dementia would choose to watch some of the rubbish that passes for entertainment today.

Is there a proven link between watching television too much – whatever the measure for too much is – and dementia?

I live outside the U K. Some of the ex pats have access to UK TV and others don't. I notice those that don't are out and about and taking part in things more than those that do.

Like 'Lillian* I wonder where they get their facts and figures from....oh! Just realised it's the Daily Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story Mail.
As a pensioner who's put in her hours in the labour market, I'll do what I damned well like in my twilight years and the DM can stuff it's articles up its editorial

No, you're not alone Greatnan. The job of my TV is to entertain and inform me, and I intend to get my money's worth!

Well, I can't be the only one who watches TV to be entertained and amused. Or am I?

where do these people get there information from. i am 72 years old i belong to a walking group a geology group a reading group a literatutre group,plus a pottery group i swim 22 lengths in the leisure centre every Friday do gardening visit my freinds and family and spend time on my computer and only watch television if it has some good documentories on to educate myself, which is mostly BBC 4.......how do they do these surveys or do they invent there informatiom.....Lillian

What's a television? If ours was stolen it would be months before I noticed. If my radio went I would notice in minutes, no seconds.

Phrases like 'pensioners' covers such a wide variety of ages, lifestyles and incomes it is meaningless except in the narrow sense of being in receipt of a state pension. At least phrases like 'child', 'teenager', 'twenty something' cover a relatively small age range. 'Pensioner' covers an age range from 65 to 110+, a 45 year age span. It is quite impossible to generalise about an age group as wide as that.

There was a joke when I was at work about anyone who was off sick, was that they would be watching Jeremy Kyle. I did watch out of curiosity but after a while they all become the same.

I rarely watch TV during the day, I tend to listen to Radio 4 most of the day unless I need to concentrate on something written.
I am intending to finish some curtains today so I will probably tune in to the television this aftenoon.

I agree movedalot dementia seems to be coming the 'in' thing for discussion at the moment, and whilst it is extremely disturbing and upsetting for those affected, we are wrong to assume that just because some folk sit and watch tv for long stretches they are going to lose their faculties. Most of us as we get older slow down and are perhaps not so quick on the up-take as we once were, not because we watch too much tv but because we have aged gracefully!

Wrong to generalise about such a huge group of people IMO

In answer to the OP - chance would be a fine thing!

" Most of them are obese, with missing teeth,"

My God! Nothing worse!

Jeremy Kyle is hilarious - I had never watched it until I went to stay with my sister. The 'victims' are obviously primed by the producer to be as aggressive as possible. Most of them are obese, with missing teeth, and they fight over hideously ugly partners. I would feel sorry for them, except they clearly revel in being 'celebrities'.

Well said, Greatnan. I could have written your piece word for word except for the New Zealand part. Off to Spain in the Motohome in a couple of weeks and will have the satellite telly on morning and evening.
I have some friends who don't like people to know that they watch Jeramy Kyle.

We are slumped in front of the telly with steaming mugs of soup. DH is watching a fishing programme and I will then switch over to Escape to the Country. The quizzes will then follow taking us up to the 6pm News. Do we feel guilty that we've been driven indoors by the heavy snow? Like hell we do!

You don't have/need a TV license if you don't have a TV. I let the licensing folk know online that I have no TV. You don't need a license to catch up on programmes online...it just means you can't watch it 'live' but there's a 24hr BBC News site that can be looked at anytime. I weighed up how often I watched TV, which was occasionally the 6-00 news and worked out how much it cost me to watch it, calculating c£13 a month license (as it was then). I decided I'd rather keep the c£130 a year TV license fee and watch the occasional programme online.. The £100+ I would have spent has gone towards treating myself to things that I really wanted

I'm gonna miss Privates. If they bring that back I will watch it.

I will watch as much TV as I bloody well like! I record The Wright Stuff whilst I am out on my morning walk, then after lunch I watch several quizzes,then the news, then soaps, Lewis, etc. I doubt if I am in much danger of dementia, but if I am I am sure it won't be because I watch TV whilst I am surfing the net or doing jigsaws.
I love travel, science and wildlife programmes and old movies, plus comedy shows like HIGNFY, Mock the Week and QI.
I am going to have to go cold turkey for six weeks in New Zealand, as my plan of watching it on-line won't work as Kindle Fire does not support Flashplayer! Still, I can read the synopses and catch up when I get home.
I manage to read a great deal too, often at the same time as watching TV.
Now it is time for Doctors, so I will log off!

MIL cannot go out without assistance. She reads in the morning and then watches a lot of TV. No sign of dementia though!
Pensioners is a rather wide category isnt it. And as with most of these "health" articles by journalists I don't suppose they have actually proved any link between TV watching and dementia.
I think physical activity is supposed to be one of the things that helps prevent it , isnt it?

I agree with tanith, it's the inactivity that is more likely to lead to health problems. All my elderly relatives watched current affairs programmes and afternoon quizzes well into their nineties. Far from getting dementia they could hold a political discussion with the best of them and their general knowledge was spot on. I'm sure that cheerful daytime programmes help to ward off depression in the lonely and housebound. Although there is no substitute for human contact, surely it's better than nothing?

hmm. they are being canny. relying on people's fear.

My gran is 96 (soon to be 97). She lives alone does all her own cooking and her little bungalow is immaculate. She very rarely watches TV (although occasionally follows football and the news). She loves the radio and spends her time reading, doing puzzles, crosswords and entertaining visitors. She is a wonderful lady who worked hard well into her 70's . She is totally with it and has no sign of dementia infact she always says "someone would have to get up very early to catch me out" !