We’ve all heard about the couch potato, the one who will sit in front of the television and only get up to use the bathroom watching movie after movie. Before you know it it’s 6:00 a.m and they’re still going strong. Movie lovers have the ability to sit for hours just watching films without falling asleep. What they don’t know is that sometimes fatal health consequences may result. An example is that of a 28-year-old South Korean Seung Seob Lee who in 2005 visited an internet café in the city of Taegu and played the ‘StarCraft’ game continuously for fifty hours. He went into cardiac arrest and died at a local hospital later. This might be a different scenario of a boy playing video games but the context is the same when it comes to watching movies nonstop. The fact that this boy’s heart stopped because of fatigue and lack of sleep makes excessive movie watching a risk. Series are the most popular causes for lack of sleep for movie addicts. How do you know that you are a movie addict? Simply put, it’s when you get a really interesting series or movie collections and; switching off your TV, shutting down you computer or the idea of sleeping is like a severe tragedy. A true movie addict can watch movies all day and all night and the next day too! He will keep going till he’s eyes can no longer cope or there is nothing more left to watch! James Kwikiriza, is a Barber shop owner in Kigali town who said he believes that he’s a movie addict. “I watch movies all the time. I love action ones. Whether at work, home you name it. Sometimes I choose to stay home if there’s a series to watch. I love Criminal Minds and CSI: Miami,” Kwikiriza said. He insists that, “if you can miss out on work just to stay home and watch movies then you’re definitely an addict.”“I can’t help myself. I’m a sucker for movies. I’ve watched so many I even forget them,” he said adding that, “I live for movies and anything good that can be watched. Sometimes I feel it’s madness.” If you really want to know what real madness is, check this out. Suresh Joachim of Toronto, Canada and Claudia Wevra of Petersburg, Germany spent 123 hours watching 57 films in a plexi-glass house in Times Square. They set the world record for the longest movie watching marathon! If that’s not madness, then what is! Even if you’re lucky not to die, there’s no telling what could happen in the future. The human body was not designed to work like that. Some people tend to think they’re robots and do things without realising that there could be adverse health consequences. Even though movies are great, sometimes they’re watched more times than they should. cjanzi83@yahoo.co.uk
