Netflix cures for pain, stress and more!
Sure, watching movies is fun—but did you know that the right flick can do everything from erase aches to whittle your waist? It’s true! Read on for the surprising health and happiness secrets in your Netflix queue!
1 See your confidence soar with “superhero” cinema! Can watching Wonder Woman make you feel like a wonder woman? Yes! According to research, identifying with powerful women, whether on the big screen or TV screen, increases your self-esteem and sense of can-do. And it isn’t just traditional superheroes that do the trick: Depictions of real-life heroines— from Meryl Streep’s Kay Graham, the first female newspaper publisher, in The Post, to Jessica Chastain’s Antonina Zabinska, who saved hundreds of people and animals during WWII, in The Zookeeper’s Wife— deliver an even bigger self-esteem boost than fictional wonder women because it’s easier to empathize and identify with them.
2 Spark your creativity with magical movies! From Harry Potter to Enchanted to this year’s Oscar winner for best picture, The Shape of Water, fantasy movies that transport you to different worlds inspire your imagination. So much so that just watching flicks where the impossible is possible enhances your creativity, helping you solve problems with ease, per recent British research. In addition, the eye-popping special effects that are the bread and butter of this genre—needed to make wizards soar, send a fairy-tale maiden down a well to New York City and give a sea creature a soul, for example—light up the visual center of your brain, a region central to short-term memory!
3 Lose weight with frightening flicks! The shivers that climb up your spine when you watch a scary movie help scare away calories! Researchers in the U.K. discovered that watching a frightening flick torches almost 200 calories (equal to an hour-long walk!) in one sitting by spurring the release of adrenaline, a “booster shot” for calorie-burn. Plus, a horror movie’s edge-of-your-seat twists are like a roller coaster for your brain, fueling feel-good chemicals dopamine and serotonin, which elevate your mood! The flicks that sparked the most calorie-burn: The Shining (184 calories), Jaws (161 calories) and The Exorcist (158 calories).
4 Ease aches and pains with tearjerkers! The most surprising prescription for a sore back or achy joints? Watch a tearjerker! University of Oxford scientists found that having a good cry while watching classic weepies like Steel Magnolias or a more recent heart-warmer like Wonder ( Julia Roberts’ latest) not only lifts your spirits by washing away stress chemicals, it also soothes physical aches by flooding your body with painkilling endorphins! In the study, the pain tolerance of folks who watched a sad movie was 18% higher afterward than the tolerance of folks who didn’t watch a tearjerker!