Don't Just Watch TV

I am sure I am as guilty as the next person when it comes to binge watching TV. Programs like Netflix make it extremely easy to sit down and watch TV for literally hours at a time. Scandal. Breaking Bad. Parenthood. Longmire. The Walking Dead. So much good TV is just a few clicks away on my Playstation. Not to mention the current shows I have DVRed: So You Think You Can Dance, Shipping Wars, Justified, Orphan Black. And I haven't even started yet on the movies. If I wanted to watch every good TV show and movie, I would never leave my sofa. And I would probably experience muscle atrophy, bed sores, and secretary spread.

From Red Book Mag

Somedays I find myself watching 5 hours of TV straight. Somedays I watch no TV. Somedays I break up my TV watching; a couple hours here, a couple hours there. Typically I am a very active, outdoors person. I enjoy practicing yoga, going for long walks or short jogs, washing my car by hand, watering my front yard, pulling the weeds from my garden (kind of therapeutic), walking around the local malls, etc. Anything that gets me out of my house during the summer. You see, I am a school teacher and as much as I love having my summers off, I also tend to run out of things to do during the summer. I also live in Houston, TX, which is insanely hot during the summer, thereby forcing me to stay indoors. So, I can read, cook, bake, clean, or watch TV. I tend to choose the TV option.

Current research says that TV binge watching destroys the designed impacts and effects of watching TV episodes with gaps in between, such as appreciating cliffhangers, time passing during summer breaks, participating in online communities, and so on.

Then, of course, there is research supporting an active lifestyle and warning against a sedentary one. For people who have to sit all day, researchers suggest things like a standing desk, walking to the copy machine every hour, and getting up to talk with your colleague instead of sending an email.

So I feel stuck. I have limited options of what I can do indoors and binge watching TV is not a healthy option and it might ruin the intended effects of spacing out episodes. Honestly, I ignore the last part of the concern. I am happy to watch an entire season in one or two days because I like seeing the overall storyline at once. So then my concerns are really my health. Here is how I balance that out:

1. I watch no more than 2 episodes before taking at least a 30 minute break. This could be time spent making lunch, cleaning the bathrooms, going for a walk, or calling my mom. Truly the options are endless. If after the 30 minute break I want more TV, then I am clear to do so.

2. I do mini workouts during the commercials. This is easy to plan for when watching a show that I have on my DVR; instead of fast-forwarding through the commercials, I use that as time to do something active. However, when I am watching a show on Netflix, I have to consciously pause the show where there would have been a commercial. Typical commercial breaks are about 2 to 3 minutes. During these times, I do any or all of the below activities until the commercial break is over. (Feel free to add your own options to this list.)

jumping jacks

plank holds

side plank holds

push ups

chaturangas

first position plies

second position plies

bicycles

crunches

burpees

bicep curls

tricep pushes

wall sits

mountain climbers

lunge

Bulgarian split squats

first position releves

second position releves

supermans

arm circles

flutter kicks

My goal is to mix physical activity into a typically sedentary pastime. And I feel better about spending 2 hours watching last season's Scandal because I also worked out for 20 minutes during that time. You can now enjoy your TV watching with a little less guilt.