Binge watchers prone to sleep disturbance and chronic fatigue

Binge-watching may be fun, but it comes at a price, according to a recent study.

The study, which is the first to link binge-watching in young adults with poorer sleep quality, more fatigue and increased insomnia, suggested that the mechanism explaining this relationship is increased cognitive alertness resulting from binge-watching.

Results show that more than 80% of young adults identified themselves as a binge-watcher, with 20.2% of them binge-watching at least a few times a week in the previous month.

Those who identified as a binge-watcher reported more fatigue, more symptoms of insomnia, poorer sleep quality and greater alertness prior to going to sleep.

There was a 98% higher likelihood of having poor sleep quality compared with those who did not consider themselves to be a binge-watcher, further analysis revealed.

Lead author Liese Exelmans from the School for Mass Communication Research at the University of Leuven in Belgium noted, ‘We found that the more often young people binge-watch, the higher their cognitive pre-sleep arousal. That in turn negatively affected sleep quality, fatigue and insomnia.’

If you have sleep disturbance or unexplained fatigue, consider staying away from binge-watching.