One of the favorite things we love to do after a busy day is to curl up on the couch and watch a movie as a family. It is a way to unwind, be together yet not demand too much from each other and our weary brains and bodies. It is relaxing and rejuvenating. Since it is one of those pleasures I think of a bit as a "guilty pleasure", because I am not working out or heavily involved in an intellectual exchange, I thought maybe I should find out if in fact, there is some merit to watching movies and that might actually translate into being a healthy activity. Yes, I was searching for some scientific justification! It turns out I found some!
There is a whole field called "Cinema Therapy" which is a method to help people get over hurdles and face certain challenges in their lives by viewing movies. Movies can be very therapeutic. This I have known for a long time. When I need a good cry, I pick one of my all time favorite movies like...An Affair to Remember...if I want to believe in the world again and know that the good guys can win I watch The Net (Sandra Bullock) or King Arthur (Keira Knightley) or The Italian Job (Charlize Theron); then there are the romantic movies, I have a very long list of those!...it includes the classic Romancing the Stone (Kathleen Turner) and newer movies like The Holiday (Cameron Diaz) and Something's Gotta Give (Diane Keaton).
The other part of watching movies that is therapeutic for us, it turns out, is the food we eat. As I recently found out, popcorn is not only a good source of fiber but is also packed full of polyphenols (antioxidants). Then there is the chocolate. Pair the popcorn with a bit of Dark chocolate and you are surely curing what ails you!
So, after a hard day of work and exercise, relaxing and watching a movie can add to our mental and physical health. I am loving it!
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