We’ve all gone a day or two without seeing the sun, refusing to shower and running, literally running to the bathroom for pee breaks in the name of binge-watching bliss. And we’ve all suffered through work the next day, with no sleep and a horrible pain in your neck from laying on the couch wrong for 15 hours straight. We’re not saying you have to pace yourself. The joy of running through episode after episode with reckless abandonment is just too satisfying. But you do need to take some precautions.
The Seventh-Episode Stretch
Sitting on the couch or floor or even watching TV in bed can wreak havoc on your neck, back and legs. You’re so enthralled with how real the zombie guts look that you’ll sit in an awkward position for episode after episode without realizing it.
The solution is stretching and standing. Take a walk around the living room, march in place for a few minutes or sit on the floor and have a good stretch between or even during episodes. The Art of Manliness has a guide to combating the damage of sitting that only requires a couch and a kitchen table. But you don’t have to complete any specific series of stretches to get the benefit, just as long as you get moving every episode or two.
Don’t Lose Your Job
You may not have gotten eight hours of sleep last night — heck, you may have not gotten three — but experts are changing their minds about just how much sleep we really need. Sleep reduction therapy is a real thing, and it’s gaining in popularity and can actually combat insomnia while giving you a few extra hours here and there to finish out your new favorite series.
But if you’re not ready to start sleeping five hours a night and waking up at the same time every day, sleep reduction may not be for you. In the meantime, don’t show up to work looking like the walking dead after staying up all night watching it. But some cold tea bags on your eyes (keep some on hand in the fridge in a ziplock), do a quick stretch, meditate for five minutes, tweeze your eyebrows, and give yourself a jarring shot of cold water right before you get out of the shower. We also recommend coffee, but just plan on a green tea afternoon boost too so you don’t crash and start moaning and banging your head on your desk by 2 p.m.
Get Amped
Now that you’ve got a binge watching survival guide, it’s time to get amped for all the insane TV coming your way this season like borderline unbelievable cast of The People vs. OJ Simpson (John Travolta, David Schwimmer, Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr.) and HBO’s Vinyl (produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger). Get a super-powered DVR like the Hopper 3 from DISH, so you can record all your shows (up to 16 of them) at the same time.
