Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, binge-watching has become the norm. With these services, viewers have access to an entire season of a television show on a single day, as opposed to traditional broadcast television where viewers have to wait a week between new episodes.
In this new age of TV, consumers can easily get sucked into watching 10 episodes of their favorite show on a weekend. But in doing so, it may lead to health problems such as depression and anxiety in a report released at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Chicago.
In the APHA’s report, of the 400-plus respondents, 35 percent identified themselves as “binge-watchers”. The study found that those who watched at least two hours of television a night reported feeling more depressed than those who didn’t (7.6% vs 3.9%).
Those who watched more reported sleep disorders, higher level of depression and stress.
Monika Karmarkar, doctoral candidate at the University of Toledo, admits there might be limitations to the study. “We do not know which came first. Depression, anxiety, and stress led them to binge watch or if binge watching led to depression, anxiety, and stress.”
Binge watching has tripled since 2014 as it continues to a rapid trend among Americans. The limited commercial interruptions and seemingly endless variety of shows and movies, not to mention the low cost compared to cable, makes binging an appealing method of entertainment.
Karmakar said there needs to be more research to conclude this study.
“There is a whole other side of this we did not study in our research,” she says. “We did not look at eating habits or exercising habits but TV watching is a sedentary behavior and sedentary behaviors lead to mental health problems and medical symptoms shown to increase cardio vascular disease and risk of diabetes.”
https://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/apha-calendar/apha-143rd-annual-meeting-and-exposition
http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/is-all-that-netflix-why-youre-feeling-depressed/ar-CC6XMD