Apparently that time I watched the first six seasons of Game of Thrones in six days was bad for me. The Daily Mail reports that, according to a study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, binge-watching TV contributes to a number of inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, dementia and Parkinson’s.
The study began in 1999 and 2000, when researchers placed nearly 9,000 adults into one of three categories: those who watched less than two hours of tv a day; those who watched between two and four hours; and those who watched over four hours a day. Scientists followed up on these individuals twelve years later and found that watching two or more hours of television per day “increase[d] the risk of an inflammatory-related death by 54 percent.”
Dr. Megan Grace, the study’s lead author, explained that “inflammation in the body is a normal response when there’s an injury or infection.” Movement helps reduce inflammation, so when people sit for long periods of time, the lack of activity impedes the body’s ability to flush out toxins that cause tissues to be inflamed. Dr. Grace posits that “this long-term low-level inflammation is actually causing damages to tissues that lead to diseases like diabetes, lung diseases and cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.”
Could the Three-Eyed Raven’s sedentary lifestyle be more dangerous than the White Walkers?
The study was initiated before streaming services like Netflix and HBO NOW gained widespread popularity, and researchers surmise that binge-watching has increased with the rise of such services. More recent studies suggest this escalation in binge-watching contributes to a host of maladies in addition to chronic inflammation.
Cersei has the right idea. Instead of lying back and watching the Sept of Baelor’s destruction, she stretches her muscles as the entertainment unfolds before her.
According to the Daily Mail’s report, Japanese scientists found that “[a]dults who spend five hours in front of the television each day are two-and-a-half times more likely to die from a blood clot in the lungs.” An Australian study indicated that binge-watching Netflix is detrimental to general physical health, and University of Queensland scientists have recognized that couch potatoes have “significantly less lower-body muscle strength than their more active peers.”
Binge-watching appears to be the new black, so how can people escape the dire health consequences that come with indulging in it? Watching less than two hours of TV a day is one way, but if that’s unrealistic proposition, Dr. Grace recommends getting up regularly to stretch the legs. “We know sitting involves reduced muscle activity, and therefore reduced blood flow,” she said. “We think this stagnation in the blood vessels may be leading to an accumulation of inflammatory markers in the blood and muscles.”
I guess that means that the next time the urge to binge-watch a season or two of Game of Thrones becomes overwhelming, get up and refill your wine glass, ala Cersei, every 20 minutes or so. Just make sure it’s not laced with the Strangler.
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