Binge Watching Is Hazardous to Your Health
While the Internet has made “binge watching” a fairly common past time, it definitely comes with it’s consequences! At the top of the list is the impact of watching for 2+hours on sleep. SLEEP. The most important aspect of healing!
It also takes a mental/emotional toll. It is a HUGE distraction and addiction! Now, wanting a distraction for a short period of time is not a problem but when that distraction becomes an escape for hours on end it definitely takes away from being present in your life and conscious living. Well, the research rolling in on this modern phenomenon and in Multiple Sclerosis or any other health state there are more cons than pros. Here’s what the research experts are saying about it.
“Sitting for long periods of time can increase one’s metabolic symptoms, which can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Sophia Tolliver, a family medicine physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. She said binge watching television can also lead to poor sleep and unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Consider the impact of long sitting on spasticity and mobility!
National Institute of Health researchers report excessive content streaming leads to “binge watching blues,” an addiction or hyper focus on a series for multiple hours that can lead to depression, isolation and loneliness.
April’s Sleep Review Magazine explained that binge watching television both disrupts sleep patterns and causes sleep deprivation.
Psychology Today in January 2018 pointed to studies that found watching more than two hours of television on a daily basis results in problems with falling asleep, waking during the night, and waking too early in the morning with the inability to fall back to sleep.
Johns Hopkins Medicine refers to it as “sitting disease” and can result in weight gain, heart conditions, circulation issues and more. Any time a body is sedentary for prolonged periods of time, health suffers.
Hopkins medicine also shared:
“A large review of studies published in 2015 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that even after adjusting for physical activity, sitting for long periods was associated with worse health outcomes including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Sedentary behavior can also increase your risk of dying, either from heart disease or other medical problems.”
So watch your binge watching! Reduce screen time in general – listen to music, read a book or make some amazing healthy food instead. Engage in other activities inside and outside your home, exercise – even if in a seated position, check out community centre programs, volunteer, etc.
Restoring and maintaining health is a life-long journey. What do you do to reduce screentime?