Drop Your Blood Sugar with One Painless Click

One powerful way to boost your health lies right under your thumb. It's the "off" button on your TV remote. (While you're thinking about it, clean that clicker. The typical remote is more contaminated than the flush lever on your porcelain throne.) But back to our main point: Spend less time clutching your clicker and you'll lower your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Don't think you're at risk? Although more than 24 million people in North America have diabetes, that's not the half of it. More than 54 million people -- 500 times more than a capacity crowd at the University of Michigan stadium -- have "prediabetes," meaning higher than normal blood sugar levels. The danger: Over time, high blood sugar will damage every place your arteries go: your eyes, heart, kidneys, and more.

But you can help lower those numbers, right in your living room. Women who watch less than 2 hours of TV a day have lower blood sugar than women who watch more, possibly because the TV watchers aren't as physically active.

We're not against TV (in fact, you've probably seen us on it). But like garlic and power tools, you have to know how to use it. The average American watches more than 4 hours a day; the average Canadian tunes in for about 3 hours. Cut down to 2 hours a day, and don't just sit there. TV dramas have about 10 minutes of commercials per hour; sitcoms have more. Use those minutes to do some jumping jacks or walk briskly around the house (except to the fridge). Or do sit-ups during the first commercial break and push-ups during the second one. You're on your way to a blood-sugar-steadying 30 minutes of activity a day.