How what you watch affects your health.
This week: Television repeats and film favourites are relaxing
WATCHING a favourite film or tuning in to a sitcom where you know all the characters helps you to relax more than watching TV shows or movies that you’re unfamiliar with, according to a 2012 study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
This is partly because there are no surprises, but also due to the fact that we have a similar positive emotional response to spending time with characters we know well – and love – as we do spending time with our actual friends.
This is "possibly because of the release of calming chemicals such as endorphins, endogenous opioids and oxytocin", says psychologist Professor Jaye Derrick, from the University of Houston in Texas.
"We know that we don’t really have relationships with these people – but it feels like we do because we spend time with them."
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