Are you looking to shed a few pounds come 2013? Then you might want to spend a little less time scrolling through your Facebook news feeds, because it looks like the social network site could be costing you your figure. Crazy right? According to Men's Health, researchers at Columbia University have discovered a link between Facebook and obesity. The frequent visitation has lead to poor food choices and in some cases, even binge eating. How about that?
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Obesity has become a common problem in the United States, with approximately 35 percent of adults in this country weighing way over what would be considered a healthy weight. So I'm sure it doesn't make any of us feel any better knowing that Facebook has had it's part it all this. During the study led by Keith Wilcox, Ph.D., 470 people participated and it was reported that those who signed onto Facebook the most had higher body indexes than those who weren't on as frequently.
Researchers also learned that over-eating was heavily associated with constant engagement on the social network site. Apparently Facebook use has been discovered to increase one's self-esteem, which is good. But the bad part is that the boost in self-esteem is apparently leading to poor eating habits afterwards.
I have to admit, at first this didn't make all that much sense to me. But, Wilcox told Men's Health Magazine: "People use momentary increases in self-esteem as a license to indulge." In otherwords, the self-esteem boost actually reduces your self-control. Which explains the poor snacking and food choices after the hours of browsing.
So if you've been sitting around and doing a little photo-stalking on Facebook this holiday season, that just might explain your wider waistline. But don't panic! No one said you had to deactivate your account (I know I'm not going to). Just try to log on less. And this should apply to all your other social networking accounts as well. If you find yourself signing in multiple amount of times during the day, try distracting yourself with some more productive activity like reading or maybe just maybe … even throwing in a workout every so often. Just saying!
Image via megan.barton/flickr
