How Can Gaming and Binge-Watching TV Be Bad for Your Health?
Many people enjoy watching TV or playing video games some of
the time. Others, though, take these actions to extremes. Sometimes, you may
even find yourself binge-watching TV or being unable to quit playing video
games.
This is when these activities start to become a problem.
Read on to learn ten ways that binge-watching and gaming can
be dangerous for your health.
1. Not Enough
Exercise
Binge-watching TV and playing video games don't involve any
substantial physical activity.
If you don’t get enough exercise, you can become overweight
and — eventually — obese. Obesity comes with a lot of health problems, some of
which can greatly decrease your quality of life.
2. Gaming Addiction
Too much gaming can lead to internet gaming disorder (IGD).
This is a unique psychological problem with a number of symptoms including:
An inability to control gaming habits
Continuing to game even when it creates social problems
Withdrawal from friends and other activities in order to
game
3. Repetitive Stress
and Overuse Injuries
Repetitive use injuries occur when you keep using particular
muscles and tendons to the point where they become irritated and inflamed. The
symptoms can become permanent if the repetition doesn’t stop.
Injuries like this are very frequent in the fingers, hands,
and arms of people that spend a lot of time playing video games.
Gamer's thumb and carpal tunnel syndrome are two common
examples of video game-related injuries.
4. Damage to Personal
Relationships
Spending too much time in relatively solitary activities
like watching TV and playing video games can take time away from the meaningful
relationships in your life.
Your relationships can suffer if you constantly prioritize
gaming activities over loved ones.
5. Lower Grades
When you choose to binge-watch TV and play video games,
you’re taking time away from other important activities — like homework,
studying, and other work.
In school, this can lower your grades and hurt your future
prospects.
6. Not Enough Time
Outside
Spending time outside is great for your mental health. You
miss out on a lot of fun activities, settings, and sunlight by choosing to
binge on indoor activities.
7. Poor Sleep
Binge-watching your favorite show might excite your brain so
much that it’s hard for you to calm down and go to sleep.
If so, you’ll be left feeling tired and irritable at work or
school the next day.
8. Depression and
Anxiety
Research has shown that you’re more likely to binge-watch TV
if you're feeling lonely or depressed. Unfortunately, these activities won’t
help your emotional state in the long run.
9. Back Problems
You normally don’t have the best posture while gaming or
watching TV. These activities, however, can curve your spine.
This will cause problems like back pain.
10. Respiratory
Function
You’re much more likely to sit in a slumped-over position
when watching TV and playing video games than when you’re actively engaged in
other activities.
Research indicates that this posture causes breathing
problems in young men, and presumably other age groups and genders too.
Can Gaming and TV Be
Good for Your Health?
All of that being said, playing video games and watching TV
isn’t always bad for you. They’re more likely to create health problems when
you engage with them in excess.
There are even some possible positive benefits from the
activities. For example, video games potentially improve your spatial reasoning
skills, and a little bit of TV can be a good way to relax.
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