Do You Watch Television While Eating? Then I Have Bad News for You

This joyful activity can lead to significant health problems

Simona Hostakova
4 min readOct 31, 2019

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When was the last time you paid attention to your food? When did you think about every bite you took, about the color, smell, or taste of the meal?

I guess that was a long time ago — if ever.

Watching television while eating is a common habit for everyone. Whether with your family or alone, enjoying the meal along with your favorite series creates a pleasant atmosphere.

Although, not surprisingly, it comes with many downfalls for your physical and mental health.

Charles Spence, Head of the Crossmodal Research Lab at Oxford University, suggests that watching television while eating is the worst thing you can do.

If you eat in front of the television, you’re paying attention to what’s going on there, instead of focusing on your food. Because of this, you might end up eating as much as 1/3 more than you would eat without watching TV.

Television and mindfulness don’t go together. Eating while watching your favorite TV show counts as multitasking.

Multitasking makes your brain distracted, so you end up not knowing what you’ve actually eaten. Same as eating in a…

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Simona Hostakova

I share my best insights on marketing, writing, freelancing & personal growth | simonahostakova.com | Looking for writing jobs? https://bit.ly/3sx3X3J