Here’s a sobering statistic: According to a Nielson study, the average person spends five hours a day watching TV. That’s three-and-a-half months a year! Still not tempted to unplug the TV? I’ll give you a few more reasons, courtesy of the health and wellbeing website, LifeOptimizer.org:

• TV lowers your IQ. Researchers at the University of California found that watching TV produces less brain activity than staring at a blank wall. Experts say the more TV a child watches, the lower their chances are of getting a college degree.
• Another reason to stop watching TV: It stresses us out. According to the University College of London, watching TV increases anxiety levels, especially if you watch a lot of news which tends to be negative and dramatic. So, instead of turning on the tube, try looking out the window instead. Research shows that looking at nature lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, and greatly reduces stress.
• Ditching your TV also saves money. The average family spends $600 a year on cable, and if you banked that amount, in 10 years you'd have more than $7,000! Plus, TV commercials work – they get us to spend more. According to the book “The Overspent American,” for every 10 hours of TV we watch, we spend $40 more than we otherwise would. 
• The final reason to turn off the TV: It hurts your relationships. Scientists at the University of Montreal discovered a connection between TV viewing and poor social skills in young children. They also found that married couples who did not have a TV in their bedroom rated their marriages much better than those who did.

Turning off your TV will boost your brainpower, lower your stress, save you money, and improve your relationships. Those three-and-a-half months you wouldn’t be watching TV every year? It’d be the equivalent of having a 15-week vacation!