Is your cell phone dangerous to your health?…
This is an important topic because 295 million people in the United States alone own smartphones, equaling roughly 85% of our country’s population. In the last 10 years, the popularity of smartphones has exploded, and it seems like there’s at least a handful of them in every room I’m in.
It makes you wonder, what role are these handheld devices playing when it comes to our mental and physical health?
6 Negative Effects of Daily Smartphone Use
1. Cell Phones collect and hold countless germs, viruses, and bacteria. E. Coli being found on phones is more common than you think, which makes sense when you think of all the places you take your phone with you, all the places you set it down, and the plethora of things that it comes into contact with.
2. The instant gratification and lack of face-to-face contact with others through a screen has changed our social interactions as well. The rates of social anxiety have climbed in the last decade, largely attributed to the popularity of cell phones. Simply put, we are forgetting more and more how to have that human interaction. Research shows that just the presence of a smartphone during an interaction decreases the level of closeness and trust felt between the people having an interaction.
3. Back pain, neck pain, and nerve pain have been linked to our phones. Most of the time we hold our phones down in our laps, which causes an unnatural angling of the neck and spine. It is important to take breaks about every 20 minutes if consistently using your phone for a long period of time to avoid unnecessary damage.
4. By this point, I’m sure you’ve read about the blue light emitted from our phones and seen advertisements for “blue light glasses” that help filter out the light and protect your eyes. This is important because the shorter wavelength blue light emitted from smartphones and other electronic devices is damaging to our eyes and disrupts our sleep cycles. To minimize this effect, try and get as much natural light during the day as possible, avoid phones after dark as much as you can, and use blue light filtering glasses when spending extended periods of time in front of a screen.
5. The everyday use of smartphones has been linked to problems with memory loss. The ability to record and capture moments in our lives has made the memory connections weaker in our brains. We have become so reliant on our cameras and devices to capture important moments in our lives that our brains are forgetting how to do it at the same rate as before.
6. Obesity and overall poor health can be linked to overuse of smartphones. With almost everything we want to entertain us available on a pocket-sized device, sedentary behavior has increased dramatically. Combined with the ability to order any food we want with apps like Doordash, this has led to an overall decrease in physical health.
So, when you think about the variety of impacts that smartphones can have, what can you do to counteract some of these problems?
It starts with being aware of the personal impact your smartphone is having on you and making the necessary behavioral changes to avoid long term effects on your health!
Here’s A Few Ways to Counter These Negative Effects
* Reconnecting yourself to the outdoors is a major key in not letting the smartphone craze completely dictate your life. Many people struggle to hit their recommended steps in a day, let alone carve out daily time specifically for outdoor exercise/enjoyment. For some, the smartphone doesn’t play too much of a role, but others are finding themselves feeling like they don’t have enough time in their day to go outside, while they’ve spent 4-6 hours on their phones instead of taking the time for other things.
* Make a conscious effort to disconnect from your device. If you’re running an errand or going to a friend’s birthday party, leave the phone at home. Within two hours of bedtime, turn off the phone, leave it in another room, or at least minimize the amount of “necessary” time that you’re spending plugged into your phone.
* Try eye drops and supplements to help promote eye health. Staring at a screen for many hours a day can really strain eye health. Supplements and eye drops can help to support your eyes in a couple of different ways. A great choice is Bluebonnet Targeted Choice Eye Care for sale here. This is one of our favorite supplements. You can find the full selection of eye care products here.
Even the smallest choice regarding your smartphone can drastically change your habits and daily routine.
Some people rely a lot heavier on their phones than others, some simply need their phones more for work or other activities that are “essential” and are not able to disconnect as easily. If your phone is an important part of your life, then you can also use tracking apps to help you offset the effects of the phone.
Like it or not, cell phones are here to stay so we might as well be aware of the impact they have on our lives and how to reduce the negative consequences of using them while we gain the benefits!
p.s. Just in case you are looking for a specific food, supplement, or any other wellness need, reach out to us here at 916-253-9276 and we would be happy to help you find exactly what you are looking for.
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