Australian researchers have now sounded warnings for couch potatoes everywhere after their study revealed that relaxing in front of the television for hours on end everyday can significantly shorten one's life span.

Ever hour that is spent staying putt in front of the TV tends to increase the risk of an early death by up-to 18%, as per figures shared by researchers from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne.

Even all those people who otherwise follow a healthy lifestyle complete with exercising and dietary caution, hike their chances of dying early from a heart disease by 18% for each hour of TV watching. Also, there is a 9% rise in risk of cancer and an 11% increased risk of dying from all causes, as has been claimed by the Australian and French team.

It is, however, not TV per-se that is the killer, but long periods of just sitting in front of it and doing nothing. "The human body was designed to move, not sit for extended periods of time. But technological, social and economic changes mean that people don't move their muscles as much as they used to. For many people, on a daily basis they simply shift from one chair to another - from the car to the chair in the office to the chair on front of the television", said led researcher David Dunstan.

Details of the study and its findings have been reported in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.