Binge Watching Among Young Adults Decreases Brain Functioning, Study Says

According to researchers, binge-watching may make you dumb and dumber, especially if you're a couch potato and are anywhere between ages 18-30.

"Researchers at the Northern California Institute for Research and Education analyzed data from a 25-year-long study of more than 3,200 18-to 30-year-olds," Time reported. "Those who reported watching the most TV (usually more than three hours a day) and doing the least physical activity (usually less than two and half hours a week) had the worst decline in cognitive functioning over the course of the study, even before the participants were middle-aged."

These findings surprised scientists as they didn't expect cognitive decline from binge-watching to affect people at a younger age.

"People who watched a lot of TV and had low levels of physical activity had weaker working memories, slower processing speed and worse executive function (ability to plan and complete tasks) than their peers, even adjusting for education," the news source went on. "Their verbal memory, however, seemed to be unaffected."

The authors of the study, Tina Hoang and Dr. Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, among others, believe that this research is one of the first to demonstrate the ill effects of the combination of watching a lot of TV and doing no exercise at all among young people.

"Previous studies have shown that both inactivity and TV were linked to cognitive decline in later years, but had not looked at those who engaged in such behaviors while they were still young," Time noted.

For the record, the study identified watching more than 3 hours of TV daily as "high" frequency viewing.

At the end of the 25^th year of the study, all participants were given 3 cognitive tests. The first one was the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), which measured how quickly a person can understand and do cognitive tasks.

The second test was the Stroop test, which checked executive function - "a person's ability to manage time and resources to achieve a goal," according to National Post.

The third one was the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), which measures verbal memory.

As mentioned, those who viewed TV more frequently and had low physical activity were twice as likely to do badly in the first two tests.

Hoang said that the group are looking to do a study involving time spent playing videogames or handling mobile screens or computers.

The results of the study, however, are inconclusive, as it is possible that those with low cognitive abilities are likely to prefer binge-watching. Or that a couch potato lifestyle can lead to health complications that can affect brain performance. However, the results do give a compelling case for rethinking one's binge-watching habits.

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