With so many TV channels and only streaming websites, many of us spend our evening binge watching our favorite series. Some even use their weekends to make watching marathons. This new trend affects our health and ruins our social life.
Binge-watching: the new trend
The times when fans had to wait one more day for a new chapter of their favorite series are no longer with us. Nowadays, people use online streaming to watch their favorite TV shows, one episode after another. Some will even wait until all the episodes are published and then pull an all nighters marathon.
A dangerous trend
A study made by a team of researchers from the University of Michigan has related binge watching with sleep related problems such as insomnia, fatigue and poor sleep quality.
The method employed for the study was to hand out questionnaires to 423 young adults (18-25 years old). The questions used were about their binge-watching habits and about some behavioral variables they have: sleep-related problems or pre-seep cognitive arousal.
The results were not positive
According to the numbers, 80% of the participants have been doing binge-watching over the last month. Out of those participants, 40% have binge-watched once, 28% have binge-watched a couple of times, 14% have binge-watched several times in a week and 7% binge-watched every day.
The researchers compared the results to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and they found that the variables are correlated. The association of sleep problems with binge-watching has been proved. 98% of those who binge-watch are more likely to experience lack of sleep and other sleeping problems.
The sleeping problems occur because watching multiple episodes one after the other leave people alert mentally and therefore not managing to fall asleep. 71% of those binge-watching declared that they did not intend to, but the show was too good.
