There’s nothing quite like stumbling across a thrilling new TV series and settling down to binge on a few episodes once the kids have gone to bed. But as entertaining as the habit may be, it seems it is just as dangerous.
According to experts from Japan, our penchant for binge-watching our favourite TV series and boxsets is actually harming our health – and could even prove fatal.
A team of researchers from Osaka University has found scientific evidence to show that watching at least five hours’ worth of TV per day can increase an adult’s risk of dying from a blood clot in the lungs by a whopping 250 percent.
The findings were drawn from an experiment carried out across just over 86,000 men and women, over a period of 19 years.
During that time, the team observed the subjects and then gathered their findings based on surveys the men and women had previously carried out, detailing their TV-watching habits.
The results were startling: 56 of the experiment’s subjects died from a blood clot in the lung; a condition which usually develops from long periods spent inactive or idle.
From their analysis of those fatal cases, the research team was able to conclude that those who watched five hours of TV or more a day were more than two-and-a-half times more likely to have died from the condition.
What is more, those who watched between two-and-a-half to five hours of TV a day (we could easily do that when the new series of House of Cards comes out) face a 70 percent greater risk. Yikes.
So, what’s the solution for those who are just too engrossed in Game of Thrones and Stranger Things to cut down their viewing? Breaks.
Dr Hiroyasu Iso, who led the research, advised: “After an hour or so, stand up, stretch, walk around; or while you’re watching TV, tense and relax your leg muscles for minutes.”
We always knew long hours spent in front of the TV were bad for us, but we didn’t imagine the habit to be quite so deadly.
