ALTHOUGH Rockhampton's Trevor Walker loves his television, he isn't prepared to sacrifice his health for it.

And he isn't about to let it rule his kid's lives either.

Trevor wasn't surprised that research by the American Heart Association found watching three or more hours of television a day doubled a person's risk of dying young.

Over eight years, researchers studied 13,284 healthy volunteers and recorded 97 deaths from heart disease, cancer and other diseases linked to sedentary behaviour.

Risk of death was found to be twice as high for participants watching three or more hours a day of television.

Figures show two-thirds of Queensland adults are overweight or obese.

Trevor agreed Australia's waistlines were expanding.

"We're a much lazier nation now than we were 15 years ago," He said.

Sport and activity was always a big part of Trevor's life and he said he encouraged his kids to be the same.

Trevor said he limited the time they could spend watching television.

He said it wasn't necessarily just their weight that was an issue.

"For me it's about them being creative and making up their own games rather than relying on the idiot box to entertain them," Trevor said.