Watching Action Movies Makes You Eat More

In general, action films are huge box office successes. They can take many different genres, including science fiction or space, thrillers, criminal dramas, war, horror, and westerns. The exception appears to be action movies. When school is out for the summer, they rule the scene and focus on automobile chases, explosions, and fights. A survey also reveals that action movies are watched more often than other genres when it comes to food consumption.

Research reveals that when TV viewers watch action movies, the snack bowl sees a lot more activity since the excitement distracts them from what they are eating. Simply put, it indicates that when individuals watch action movies, they munch on roughly twice as many snacks.

The amount of food people reportedly consumed while watching television was found to be influenced by the type of content they were exposed to, with people watching an action movie reportedly eating nearly twice as much as people watching a talk show. The study was reported to have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Internal Medicine.

The researchers randomly divided 94 undergraduate students into three groups, each of which was put in front of a TV for 20 minutes. One group was made to watch a part of the thriller The Island, while the second watched the same portion of the same film on mute. The final group watched a 20-minute clip of the interview program, Charlie Rose. All three sets of participants were given M&Ms and cookies, as well as healthier snacks like carrots and grapes, to enjoy while watching TV. Researchers weighed the snacks before viewing, and how much was left afterward. While the people watching the interview show ate 104.3 g of food, CBS says, those who watched the clip of The Island consumed a total of 206.5 g — nearly twice the amount. Watching The Island on mute did diminish appetites, but at 142.1 g the amount consumed was still 36% more than that of the Charlie Rose group. The total calorie intake of both groups watching the action clip was also higher, at 354 calories with sound and 314 without, compared with just 215 calories for the third group.

According to published reports, viewers were drawn in and distracted from what they were consuming by exciting, fast-paced programs with lots of camera cuts. Because you’re less aware of how much you’re putting in your mouth, they might induce you to eat more. The study’s co-author offered a silver lining, noting that, “Action-movie watchers also eat more healthy foods if that’s what’s in front of them,” suggesting that this could be used to a viewer’s advantage. The researchers suggested measures like bringing predetermined, finite quantities of food to the TV to avoid overeating. More engaging programs that are fast-paced and have a lot of camera cuts really hook you in and distract you from what you’re consuming. They might induce you to eat more since you are less aware of how much you are putting in your mouth.

 

Photo: Prostock-studio/Shutterstock 

 


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