Everyday, people binge-watch their favorite shows for hours and hours, and I’m sure you have too, but have you ever sat down and thought about how harmful binge-watching truly is?

Personally, I have binge-watched at least a dozen shows all on streaming services like Netflix and HBO Max. A few of them are Avatar: The Last Airbender, Stranger Things, and All American. Most of the time it takes up my entire day, as well as my night. Because of this, I sleep for most of the day after.

Soon I learned that one of the many problems binge-watching does is take away your sleep and cause sleeping problems. Because binge-watching takes away our sleep, we get more fatigued and have a greater chance of getting insomnia. Sleep deprivation can also lead to more mental and physical problems.

Binge-watching can also cause isolation from other people. The more lonely and depressed you are, you binge-watch more. Many people are even addicted to binge-watching. Most people don’t even notice that they are addicted to it. Too much binge-watching can cause cognitive decline. Turns out that a few years of watching a little bit of TV everyday gives you difficulty with remembering stories, recalling word lists, and learning sequences of paired words.

So whenever you are binge-watching your favorite shows, keep these in mind.