While sitting down to watch your favourite television show may seem like a relaxing way to unwind, it also could fuel your appetite, leading to binge eating.
A study, published by Elsevier in the February edition of the peer-reviewed journal Appetite, found that adults tend to eat more when glued to their screens, whether it’s a cooking show, a thrilling action flick or mindless phone scrolling.
The study also found that women were more likely to eat while watching screens than men.
“The results indicated that consuming food while watching screens leads to increased food intake due to the distraction caused by screen use, regardless of the screen content,” the researchers stated in the study. “This phenomenon is particularly evident among females and may be attributed to psychological constructs of eating behavior.”
Prolonged television watching has previously been linked to health issues such as obesity and diabetes, as it often promotes sedentary behaviour and can lead to increased calorie consumption due to mindless eating, reduced awareness of fullness cues and exposure to advertisements for unhealthy foods.
For example, research shows that people who watch television for more than three hours a day are significantly more likely to develop diabetes. Similarly, spending long hours in front of other screens, like computers, smartphones and tablets, is strongly connected to a higher risk of obesity and hypertension.
On the flip side, cutting back on TV time is linked to a lower risk of being overweight or obese.
While research exists on this topic, the authors of the Appetite study argue there is still a lack of systematic reviews exploring how screen exposure affects eating in adults, particularly when considering factors like the type of screen, the content being viewed and the duration of exposure.
“With increasing screen exposure among adults reports an average of 3.2 hours per day, and a higher frequency of eating while using screen, a comprehensive understanding of the time-stamped relationship between screen use and food intake becomes crucial,” the researchers said.
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To gather this information, the researchers viewed data from 42 studies involving nearly 1,900 participants. They examined how different types of screen content — such as weight-loss shows, home renovation programs, diet advertisements and engaging versus boring content — might influence eating behaviour.
The researchers found that people tended to eat a lot more while watching screens compared to when they weren’t. The biggest increase was seen in females, who showed a noticeable jump in how much they ate.
The type of content people watched or the device they used didn’t have a significant impact on their food intake, the study found.
When screen time was considered, the researchers found that if it was less than 30 minutes, people exposed to food cues tended to eat more than those who weren’t. However, when screen time was 30 minutes or longer, the presence of food cues didn’t really make a difference in how much people ate.
The increased food intake observed in adults eating while watching screen may be attributed to the distraction caused by screen use during meals, which impairs food memory, the researchers argue.
Previous reports have also indicated that individuals tend to eat more or consume larger portions of snacks and meals when distracted by television.
“Television is a distraction and it may mean that people just start consuming without registering the fact that they’re consuming,” explained Bill Dietz, a professor in the department of exercise and nutritional sciences at the George Washington University School of Public Health.
“And maybe there’s this kind of double whammy of the distraction of television and the kinds of foods that you’re selecting … that those may be high caloric foods that contribute to weight gain,” he added.
When it comes to the study finding that females tended to eat more than males while watching screens, Dietz said he was “surprised” by this finding.
The study suggests that this might be due to differences between males and females in how they approach eating, such as levels of self-control around food, how easily they give in to cravings, sensitivity to hunger cues or intrusive thoughts about eating.
Despite the differences observed between females and males, the study emphasizes that people should try and avoid eating while watching screens. Instead, it recommends practicing mindful eating — being fully present during meals and free from distractions like TVs, phones, or other screens.
However, Dietz said there may be another trick.
“Watching screens is a way to release stress and gives a distraction. So I think the trick is not so much to stop eating while you’re watching television, but to change the kinds of foods that you’re eating. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a healthier choice than fast food,” he said.
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