Current times have brought new behaviours and trends which have easily become a part of our day-to-day lives. One such trend is “binging”. What is the meaning of binge? Does binge eating mean eating too much? Does engaging in a marathon watching of my favourite sitcom mean I binge watch? Is there an accurate or technical meaning of the word binge?

Simply put – binging means overdoing some activity.

The British Dictionary defines binging as a bout of excessive activity. You might engage in excessive eating, drinking, shopping, or even watching TV or videos. Some days, you go overboard while shopping, i.e., you shop way too much. Sometimes you may eat a lot because you are feeling low and sad. At times, you may drink more than your fair share as you are extremely happy and want to celebrate. Or you may binge watch meaning consume too much videocontent such as web series, videos, etc.

  When it comes to excesses, we tend to indulge in a variety of things. Some very common activities that you may do a bit too much are listed below. Eating – How much is too much!

Binge eating means you consume large quantities of food, way more than your usual diet. You may keep eating even when you are full. Sometimes you may eat too fast, almost as if you are eating without thinking or paying attention. Excessive eating can make you very uncomfortable both physically and mentally, but it feels like you cannot stop.

There could be times when you eat too much because you like some dishes. Do not confuse overeating with binge eating. We associate eating good food – tasty and yummy food with happiness. So it is likely that you might overeat when you are happy or are eating a dish you like.

Some examples of overeating are

• Eating an extra slice of pizza
• because it has your favourite topping

Eating a dessert even though you are full because it is your friend’s birthday party. In these examples, you do overeat, but you are still in some control of your actions. Whereas binge eating means you have very little control, and you continue to eat even when you are very uncomfortable. In such cases, you really do know that you are eating way too much, but you just cannot do anything about it.

Some examples of binge eating are

• Hiding a box of chocolates in your bag and eating the entire box in the night when you are in bed
• Eating an entire tub of ice cream and feeling bad about it
• Eating a bag full of chips when you hear a bad news

Most of the time, binging is related to our psychological well-being. We tend to binge when we are feeling emotional. Although everyone is likely to binge-eat occasionally, it becomes a problem if such episodes are extreme and happen frequently. Binge eating could lead to harmful physiological problems if not controlled.

Binge means too much, and as you can eat too much, you might drink too much as well. Alcohol or any drink which, if consumed in correct proportion, might lead to enjoyment and satisfaction or at times – stress release, but it had too much might not be good for you. “Drinking alcohol” is seen differently in different parts of the world. Culturally, people in some countries associate alcohol consumption with celebrations and festivities, while others view it as a taboo and are done when alone or depressed. In either case, too much alcohol consumption could be dangerous physically and cognitively. Just like “stress eating”, people might engage in “emotional drinking”. Do not think that binge drinking only means consuming alcohol. Binge drinking means drinking excessively; it could be alcohol or other items. Some examples of this are

• Drinking too much soda or sugary drinks to get a happy high
• Drinking alone at a bar after going through a romantic break-up.

If asked whether you like to shop or not, it is very likely that almost 90% of people would say “yes”. Not being gender-biased, men and women both enjoy shopping. They spend quite a lot of time in shopping malls and arenas. In today’s times, people tend to spend weekends at malls – shopping, watching movies, and dining out. With lockdowns and restrictions, online marts and online videos/content platforms have replaced these activities. Still, shopping remains one of the most preferred past-times of our generation.

In this context, the word binging means to do too much shopping for things you may or may not need. Many a time, you tend to shop not because you want or like something but because it kind of fills a vacuum or need within you. We tend to equate material things with self-esteem and pride.

Isn’t having good things excellent?

Consider the following examples:

• A teenage girl might think that having a huge shoe collection is a must.
• A young man feels pressured to buy the latest gadget that comes to the market.

These people might think that having a huge collection of shoes or the latest gadgets is very important to maintain their “image” in their social group. They might go such binge shopping outings in order to buy more and more stuff which they can “show off” to their friends. Their public image might be dependent on having such worldly possessions. In cases like these, binging means trying to improve their self-esteem. However, self-esteem built on such superficial things might crumble easily, leading to severe psychological issues like depression, anxiety, mood swings, etc.

Binge shopping was very funnily but accurately depicted in the movie “Confessions of a shopaholic”. In this film, the lead character has these bouts of urges or impulses to shop. She is not able to control this need and ends up buying more stuff than she needs or can even fit in her wardrobe: her obsession and too much shopping results in relationship, emotional, and financial problems.

In conclusion, yes! Having a good thing is great, but if not having these things makes you upset and restless, then you are going wrong somewhere. You need to work on controlling this impulse!

You can now surely guess the meaning of binge-watching! Very often, you might hear your friend claim that he binge-watched an entire series in one sitting. Very simply, binge-watching means excessively viewing something – TV, videos, web series. Do the words “Bella Ciao” ring a bell?

You, too, must have most likely completed a marathon watching of a current favourite web series. If yes, then you, too, are an active binge watcher!

Thanks to the lockdown last year, the number of people who binge-watch has increased drastically. The most commonly accepted meaning of binge-watch is viewing two to six episodes of a single web series in one sitting.

Consequences of binge-watching Such marathon watching sprees can cause several harmful effects on the body, such as

• Headaches
• The strain on your eyes
• Body fatigue due to constantly sitting for an extremely long period of time
• Neck sprains

Excessive munching or eating In the long run, repeated instances of binge-watching can cause social and psychological issues. For example:

• Loneliness due to being socially isolated
• Relationship troubles
• Fewer interactions with others
• Mental Stress
• Time management issues
• Decreased work productivity
• Sleep issues

Other than these types, any type of “excessive doing” of some activity that can cause harm to yourself could possibly be termed as binging. To summarize, to binge means to go overboard or to overdo. Binging needs to be controlled and kept in check as it might have negative effects on a person’s physical and psychological well-being.

If you feel that you tend to “binge“, please visit our courses page, and you will find some helpful courses that you can take up, which will empower you to deal with this.