Watching TV news late at night can cause you to gain weight.

No surprise – “People want to consume more of all kinds of foods, both healthy and unhealthy, when thinking about the idea that they will die some day,” write the authors Naomi Mandel (Arizona State University) and Dirk Smeesters (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands).

The theory – “When people are reminded of their inevitable mortality, they may start to feel uncomfortable about what they have done with their lives and whether they have made a significant mark on the universe. This is a state called ‘heightened self-awareness.’ One way to deal with such an uncomfortable state is to escape from it, by either overeating or overspending.”

The study – Study participants wrote essays on their feelings about their own deaths or about a painful medical procedure (the control group). They then checked off items on a grocery list or ate cookies. Those who wrote about their own deaths wanted to buy more and ate more.

Conclusion – The researchers found people with low self-esteem, in particular, tended to over-consume after death-related thoughts. The study also revealed that placing a mirror in front of the participants reduced the desire to over-consume.

“Consumers, especially those with a lower self-esteem, might be more susceptible to over-consumption when faced with images of death during the news or their favorite crime-scene investigation shows,” the authors conclude.

It seems to me that the solution – and maybe a great way to lose weight – is to stop thinking about your own mortality or the mortality of others. And if watching the evening news causes you to eat more and you wish to drop some weight, the conclusion seems obvious to me – stop watching the evening news. Many therapists who work with weight issues suggest that those seeking to lose weight stop watching the news before they fall asleep at night – avoid the late night news.

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