Binge Watch Responsibly!

By Ahmed Wafi

Watch your favourite shows without losing track of your priorities.

Here’s a scenario we’re sure you’re familiar with: You click on Netflix after dinner, start watching the first episode of Black Mirror. And then you think, OK one more episode before you go to bed or do some reading. The next thing you know, you’ve finished Season 1 and Season 2 (no thanks to Netflix having complete seasons!) and it’s 3am. On a Tuesday.

Watching what everyone else is watching is fun and a great way to destress after work. But without some form of restrain, it can also be ultra time consuming and if you’re not careful about it, you’re spending your work nights sleeping late because of “just one more episode”, which won’t do you any favours when you wake up the next morning groggy and tired.

So here are some tips on how to better manage your entertainment.

#1 Discipline
So you work hard to enjoy the good things in life and that includes watching your favourite TV shows hours on end. To do this without affecting your sleep, set yourself a limit on how many episodes you can watch or what time you need to go to bed. And then keep to it, whether it is only three episodes a day or going to sleep at 11pm.

#2 Don’t get distracted
And by this we mean, enjoy your favourite binge activity! Take your pastimes SERIOUSLY and this means no distractions when watching Season 3 of Stranger Things. Put your work aside and your phone on Do Not Disturb. This way, you won’t feel like you need to keep rewinding to parts of the episode that you’ve missed because of a Facebook notification, only to realise that you never really watched anything and to start it all over again, which is not productive at all.

#3 TV not phone
One for your physical wellbeing and sleep behaviour. Watch your shows on TV instead of your phone. The brightly lit small screen can actually affect your sleep later. In fact, stop looking at any screen 30 minutes before your bedtime. The ‘blue light’ emitted by screens is interpreted by the brain as daylight. Plus, it suppresses the production of melatonin which should actually increase closer to bedtime!

#4 Schedule time on weekends
The weekends are a time to revel in your favourite pastimes so go on, finish up as many episodes as you can! But don’t spend the entire weekend slouched on the TV. Go outside to get some fresh air too. Strike a balance between staying in to watch TV and going out to get active.

Photo by Jens Kreuter on Unsplash

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