A new study has revealed that binge watching television shows can lead to fatal pulmonary embolism which can result in sudden death.
The research states that people who sit in front of the television for five hours or more a day have more than twice the risk of suffering a deadly blood clot as those watching less than two and a half hours per day.
The risk is increased for people between 40 and 59 who watch TV for more than five hours daily.
The research, funded by the Japanese government, observed 36,007 men and 50,017 women aged between 40 and 79.
Chief Researcher, Dr Toru Shirakawa, public health research fellow in the Department of Social Medicine at Osaka University in Japan said “We have known about the relationship between prolonged sitting and pulmonary embolism for some time, but this is the first time a direct link between prolonged television watching and fatal pulmonary embolism has been shown.”
Pulmonary embolism is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs become blocked by a blood clot.
In most cases, the clots are small and are not deadly, but they can damage the lung. But if the clot is large and stops blood flow to the lung, it can be deadly.