Your smartphone could be wrecking your health – physical and mental! So you want to get healthier? Leave the cell phone aside!
Our smartphones are our constant companions. We use it to make calls, send messages, check social networks, pay bills, order food, surf the Internet, play games, shop, read, etc. There are so many benefits that we often turn a blind eye to some downsides of these wonderful devices. The indiscriminate use of cell phones is increasingly associated with various physical and emotional health problems. After all, we bending over their screens, gaze at their blue light for too long and prefer the digital company to the human companionship. Then cannot be very good, can it? Check out seven ways the cell phone can be harming your health (and have good reasons to put it aside – at least for a few hours).
Anxiety and depression
Your smartphone may be increasing your levels of depression and anxiety. Your smartphone keeps you connected all the time – and that has a considerable downside. Not being able to “disconnect”, in addition to the massive volume of information, can cause a substantial increase in anxiety. This anxiety can result from feeling the urge to respond immediately to all texts, emails, or notifications received or from the feeling of obligation to always have to be available professionally. Also, many studies link frequent social media use and depression. Being bombarded by images of everyone looking happy and prosperous leads to unhealthy and inaccurate comparisons and decreased feelings of self-worth.
Eye problems
Looking at your cell phone all the time can cause several eye problems. According to research in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, direct and close exposure to blue screen light can cause retinal damage and even cataracts. Other issues include eye pain and blurred vision. Luckily, both Android and iOS come with settings that can help reduce your exposure to blue light. Also, try limiting your cell phone use at night, taking breaks every 20 minutes to rest your eyes.
Headaches
Constantly looking down to read messages on your smartphone can also lead to a painful condition called occipital neuralgia. Occipital neuralgia is a neurological condition in which the occipital nerves – that run from the top of the spinal cord to the base of the neck up through the scalp – are inflamed or injured. The pain can be an aching, burning, or throbbing that starts at the bottom of the head and radiates to the scalp. Treatments include posture correction, massage, and taking anti-inflammatory drugs. However, experts say prevention is the best thing. So rather than stooping over your smartphone, lift it up to your eye level.
Neck pain
Typing or reading messages and texts, or watching videos, on your cell phone puts you in a very uncomfortable position. The weight of your head looking down at your phone’s screen – which can equal 27 kilograms, according to a study published in the journal Surgical Technology International - puts a lot of pressure on your neck and spine, causing tightness or spasms. This unnatural position, dubbed “text neck,” can lead to an increasing number of neck and spine injuries. Try to keep your phone at eye level when texting, emailing, or social networking to avoid the problem. This habit lets you hold your head up and your shoulders back, as you should when you’re trying to sit ergonomically at your computer.
Negative social interactions
There may be countless dating apps, but the phone is a ticket out of interacting in any social situation when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Brigham Young University researchers found that texting to apologize or resolve conflicts resulted in poorer relationship quality. Also, the excess use of smartphones can diminish empathy, that is, the ability to emotionally understand someone. A University of Michigan study found that college students of this generation are 40% less empathetic than college students of 30 years ago. Researchers believe that exposure to more information and social media through digital media trivialized the affection. So when it comes to relationships, personal contact is still the best way.
Poor sleep quality
Your cell phone may also be impairing – a lot – your sleep quality. The blue light emitted by the smartphone screen could suppress the hormones that promote sleep and make it harder to get to the bed, according to the National Sleep Foundation and data derived from its 2011 Sleep in America poll. Also, your phone’s constant vibration, beeping, and lights can disrupt sleep patterns – even when you don’t realize it. In other words, the best way to get a good night’s sleep is to keep the phone away from the bed.
Short attention span and dull memory
You can be proud of multitasking when you’re on your smartphone, but truth be told, when you increase the quantity, you lose – a lot – in quality. A Microsoft study with two thousand participants, using electroencephalograms, showed that participants’ average attention span was only eight seconds (i.e., participants simply “lost interest” in a subject after eight seconds). In 2000, before the advent of smartphones, this time was about 12 seconds. Also, there’s no reason to memorize things you know you can quickly look up with a handy smartphone. And when you stop learning facts and figures, your memory can get a little rusty.
