New research suggests that binge-watching TV shows on Netflix may be hazardous to your health, Medical Daily reported.
For the purpose of the study, researchers from the University of Toledo classified binging as watching at least two hours of TV per night. They found that people who watched two hours of TV reported feeling more depressed and anxious than those who spent fewer time watching TV.
"We do not know which came first," Dr. Monika Karmarkar, the study's co-author, told The New York Daily News. "Depression, anxiety, and stress led them to binge watch or if binge watching led to depression, anxiety, and stress."
For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 400 people, Yahoo News reported. Seventy-seven percent of the participants watched at least two or more hours of TV per night and were classified as "bingers."
They found that people who spent more hours watching TV reported sleep disorders. They also reported higher levels of depression and stress, The New York Daily News reported.
"There is a whole other side of this we did not study in our research," Karmakar said about the study's limitations. "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."
The findings were detailed at the International Communication Association's 65th annual conference.
