During Ramzan, our routines are all over the place. We sleep all day and are up all night till Sehri in the morning. The sole reason is that no one wants to be up while fasting and basically just get through the whole fast by sleeping. This completely misses the whole point of fasting but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. The real problem at hand is the activities that we do while we’re up. Obviously, no kind of physical activity is possible at such late hours so we resort to online activities to kill our time. There’s nothing wrong with watching a bit of Netflix and playing a few games but the problem arises when we forget how much of these activities are okay and when it’s too much.
The New Norm
Spending hours and hours inside your room in front of a TV or phone screen has unfortunately become a norm. Young kids in their early teens play games such as PUBG, COD or ludo star from iftar till 9-10 am in the morning. Once the gaming session is over these kids sleep all day long till it’s time to break the fast and have Iftar. This is not just the case with kids but even adults have extremely bad routines. Every other person is looking for even the smallest opportunity to get glued to their TV screens and start binge watching on Netflix. It can be very addictive but binge watching and too much Netflix can have serious mental and physical health impacts.
The Impact on Health
There are various kinds of shows streaming on Netflix, and no matter what your age is every individual has access to it. Some of the content can be very triggering for certain individuals. The same goes for games. They are extremely addictive as they tap into the reward portion of your brain every time you achieve something or win a match. Over time this can lead to anxiety as you become completely dependent on the game to feel a sense of achievement and success. Furthermore, such a heavy amount of online activities can leave you feeling more lethargic day by day. You get stuck in a rut where the comfort of your bed and cell phone gives you a feeling of fulfilment. Leaving your bed feels like too tough of a task. Individuals tend to miss out on a lot of activities just because they simply choose to binge watch. we all know binge watching doesn’t require much effort as each episode plays itself one after the other, it is really difficult to stop especially if one is very much invested and interested in the TV series/ movie.
Effect On Sleep Schedule
Furthermore, most individuals binge watch all the way up to Sehri which leads to a disruption of their sleep patterns. The time that they could spend sleeping before sehri is wasted watching hours and hours of shows. This can cause deterioration in a person’s physical and mental health, leaving them unproductive. There is always an opportunity cost to how individuals spend their time, so for instance if an individual chooses to stay up late to binge watch, the next day’s work or studies will definitely suffer. The opportunity cost of staying up late is that their work or school responsibilities will build up and will end up causing the person stress and anxiety related to it.
Lack of Exercise
Taking out time for exercise in Ramzan is a big challenge. Before iftar most people are either at work or do not have the stamina to work out during fasting, hence the only suitable time left is after Iftar. Most people tend to give up their physical activities on most days just to relax by playing games or watching TV shows. This lack of exercise can lead an overall decrease in the people’s quality of life which can deteriorate over time, leading to illness. Furthermore, people also confessed to giving up their work to make time for binge watching which shows that over usage of Netflix can sabotage an individual’s performance at school or work. Hence over-usage of Netflix does have a negative impact on our physical and mental health. The fact that people are ready to give up so much just to binge watch or play games shows how additive it is. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with gaming or binge watching. You should know your priorities and how much of a certain thing, is actually fine for you. Sometimes seemingly harmless activities can take away peace from your life.
