Watching television together could recharge your relationship

A recent study published in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships suggests that going on a ‘Game of Thrones’ marathon with your partner may be the boost your relationship needs.

It basically infers that watching lots of movies and/or television shows with your romantic partner may make your relationship stronger most especially if you don’t have many mutual friends.

The Experiment

A group of researchers from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States got over 200 college undergraduates to participate in a survey.

The criteria for qualification was to be in a relatively long-term relationship (an average of 16 months).

The students were asked about the quality of their relationships, how many friends they shared with their partners, and the length of time they spent together, watching TV shows and other forms of media.

Those who shared the same social circle were found to have a prospering and cordial relationship.

For those who didn’t have many mutual friends, the act of binge-watching was discovered to improve the quality of their relationship, indicating that it helped couples bridge the gap between their different social worlds.

The Effects 

When you and your partner spend time watching the same shows together, you create a joint world with each other that will be present in your conversations and the in-jokes you make.

You know how excited you get when doing something you love like listening to music, watching your favorite movie, or eating great food?

During that time, the pleasure center in your brain is activated and ‘dopamine’ is secreted. Dopamine is a hormone that controls the reward and pleasure centers in the brain. Some call it the ‘feel good’ hormone.

So when you engage in activities you love, especially ones that engage your mind, with your significant other, you are creating a stronger, genuine, more lasting bond between each other.

“Watching TV with a partner or watching a movie you both like is a really easy way to improve relationship quality and anyone can do it at any time so if this is something that is good for relationships, it might help us identify an intervention that can improve relationship quality,” Sarah Gomillion, the study’s lead author, told BBC News.