MILAN (Reuters) - Turning off the television and tuning into a more active lifestyle will boost life expectancy, Italy's Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia said on Monday.

"Abolish the television and you will have a longer and healthier life," he was quoted by Ansa news agency as telling a conference of elderly people in Milan.

"Don't give in to the couch-potato life of television because it's unhealthy," he added.

It's not the first time Sirchia has come out with unconventional advice for the elderly. At the start of the summer he raised eyebrows when he suggested pensioners head to supermarkets to escape the heat.

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