Watching TV is making us fat...and not for the reason you'd think.

We've all heard of the term "couch potato"; someone who sits on the couch watching TV all day, grazing on snacks. Typically, sitting around snacking all day with no form of physical activity can make anyone gain weight. But, surprisingly, our TV watching can make us gain weight in more ways than one.

The advertisements that are shown on the TV, specifically food advertising, is making us gain weight.

There was a study conducted by researchers at Yale University that looked at the type of advertising on TV and how the participants ate. The result was, the more television advertisements that marketed unhealthy food that the participants watched, the more likely they were to eat these unhealthy foods. The participants that watched advertisements about healthy and nutritious foods did not eat as much.

Our television viewing habits have a powerful influence over our food choices.

This is also true in young children, due to the large number of advertisements that are targeted directly towards children.

Food companies know how easily influenced kids are, and if you use their favorite superhero or princess to market unhealthy foods, kids are more likely to want those foods. Fast food companies put toys in kids meals, making kids want the unhealthy food even more so they can collect their toy. There are also games that are marketed towards children that are so heavily branded, they have their own title; "advergames". This means that the advertisements are not specific to television, and we're being bombarded with more and more advertisements due to our increased screen time. Phones, computers, and television combined are exposing us to so many advertisements.

What does this mean?

Limit your amount of screen time. Easier said than done, I know. But make sure you leave time for physical activity during your day. Also, limit your kids screen time. The advertisements marketed towards children are very influential over their young minds, so its best to keep them watching other programming, or limiting their amount of screen time so their exposure to those advertisements is limited.