Watching Re-runs of Old TV Shows can Increase Your Self Control: Study

Watching re-runs of old television shows can be good for your health, reveals study.

Psychologists have long believed that people who have limited amounts of impulse control are more likely to give in to temptation later.

In order to stop this from happening and to restore a sense of self-control, we need to boost ourselves and be in a good mood, which is where re-watching your favourite TV shows works.

According to psychologists, we think of these characters as friends or family.

In the study conducted by researchers from the University of Buffalo, the results showed that people found it easier to maintain their self-control if they had also been asked to describe a favourite television show during experiments.

The participants took part in essay writing and word association experiments.

Jaye Derrick described watching reruns as providing 'social surrogate restoration'.

In her article Derrick said that while watching TV is not the optimal way to boost your mood as physical exercise and reading can have the same effect, it should not be dismissed.

She concluded that media use can have unexpected psychological benefits.

"Television, movies and books can be more than leisure activities; in some cases, they fulfil needs, like restoring self-control, that people are reluctant or unable to fulfil through other means," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.

The study has been published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Source: ANI