You know those weird pains you’re getting from your eyes to your elbow. Well, it may not be ageing that’s to blame, or Trump (as tempting as that may be). It may be your smartphone that is causing you physical pain. Mmmm hmmm. That trusty device you take everywhere, rely on for everything and use to get all the answers you could ever need could be wreaking a whole host of havoc on your body.
To find out exactly – and how you can correct these niggles – read on because this advice could be revolutionary.
Thumb’s Up
Back when Blackberry was dominating the world (remember that mini-epoch?), texter’s thumb was a genuine issue. Slamming your fun into the keypad was strenuous. Fast forward a couple of years to where every phone uses a touchscreen, and the strain has changed – scrolling, swiping and tapping. To avoid this, don’t just rely on your thumb; change it up and use your other fingers. If your condition is really bad, you may need to do the embarrassing thing of asking your doctor for a splint (we know, right).
Night-Time Eye
Remember when your mum told you not to sit too close to the television or you would get square eyes? Well, a decade later and we’re all holding screens an inch away from our face – especially at night – which is causing a whole lot of eye strain, as any number of eye exams will prove. To prevent serious eye damage from creeping into your life, what you need to do first and foremost is stop looking at your phone when you’re in bed. The combination of dark room, blue light bursting from your screen and it being held close to your face is not just super-harmful to your eyes, it also has a negative effect on your sleep. So, yeah, just stop doing that and you’ll be swell.
Text Neck
The texting posture of smartphone users is a universal one, and that is not a good thing, as your neck is no doubt telling you all day every day. By looking down at your phone you are applying sixty-pounds of pressure weighing heavy on your spine, which is about five times more than when you are stood upright. We’re talking about tenderness that leads to muscle spasm that could lead to bone bending. What can you do to counter this? Simple. Instead of tilting your head down start bringing your phone up to your eye level. Even if you just raise it higher and use your eyes to do the looking down, you will reap a huge health reward.
Texter’s Elbow
The strain in your elbow (yes, the one that causes a little tingling sensation to sometimes zip down to your hands) is caused by your elbows being in a flexed position. When you’re texting in class, emailing at work, scrolling Instagram in the loo, walking down the street or whatever else, there is this awkward position that you tend to put your elbows and wrists in. Tennis elbow is soon going to become Texter’s elbow. The best thing to do is just switch arms regularly and keep an eye on your arm position.
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