and you may think all that binge
watching on Netflix or Hulu is not a big
deal but it can in fact be a problem for
your health it can lead to fatigue
cardiovascular disease and back pain
joining me now is Beth Granger
UnitedHealth will Loomis healthcare
wellness specialist hi good morning
thank you for having me thank you
so tell us all about this I know a lot
of people who will sit and watch Netflix
all day long right so you think that
okay I'm going to sit down and watch TV
it's gonna be very relaxing this is a
good time for me to kind of unwind but
what happens is we have technology as at
our fingertips right and we have all
these streaming services so it's so easy
to access any show that we want and we
sit down we start to watch TV and next
thing you know you get sucked into some
series and then it's been two and a half
three and a half four five hours go by
and we we just don't realize the health
effects behind that and there are
actually studies to prove that this is
not good for your health
correct and the American Heart
Association was sharing some of the
facts and United Healthcare really wants
people to understand that it's not just
watching a show here and there but when
you're binge watching TV it can affect
your ability to get a good night's sleep
so when you're watching these shows for
hours on end think about like either the
thought provoking that it right brings
for us or it might be very adrenaline
driven and so you're all pumped up and
you're you know you're your emotions are
all spiked and then you have to be able
to calm down to go to sleep and I can
make it really challenging in addition
to that light that's omitted from the TV
or from a tablet or a phone well no and
it also blocks the melatonin that is
released in our body that helps us get a
good night's sleep and so binge watching
people may think okay one hour two hours
but when you say binge watching how long
are you talking we're talking extended
amount of times like four or five hours
and if you're doing that daily right so
that's it's not just one time it's a
rainy Saturday
but if you're doing that an extended
amount of time and like I said you're
not getting a good night's sleep let's
say that's gonna add up and next thing
you know another health concern is
chronic fatigue so you have this chronic
fatigue which is associated with
increased weight depression decreased
productivity and work irritability your
reflexes are inhibited so you're not you
know able to be have good reaction time
maybe when you're driving so it can be
very unsafe and what are some
suggestions that you would give people
if you are thinking about hey I want to
sit down it's a Saturday like you said
maybe it's raining outside what do you
think people should do as an alternative
to watching TV for 3-4 hours at a time
that's a good question because I think
that it's not about watching the shows
but it's what are you gonna do during
that time so maybe and the rule of thumb
is that trying to move once every hour
so if you are watching your shows maybe
get up every hour and take a break and
go do something grab a glass of water
okay you know another benefit hydrate
yourself
yeah also another tip would be to maybe
utilize that time and multitask so if
you wanted to do some physical activity
you have if you have dumbbells you could
jog in place you could do some push-ups
some sit-ups some sort of exercise that
might work stretching so there's a lot
of activities that you can do during
that time that would make it more useful
that you're also moving around your body
and I think a lot of times you know we
just we get so into it that we just
really don't think of the side effects
or or the health effects or the impact
it could have on us so I think you know
you coming on obviously is helping us a
lot today to think about some
alternatives because honestly we just
sit we watch and then hours go by right
and here we are mm-hmm alright thank you
so much for coming on and joining us of
course we'll have more of these tips and
things on our website hopefully later
today Scott