The increasing ease of work due to technology has significantly increased the dependence on our laptops. Additionally, desktops have been leading us to a more sedentary life. Most of us, especially corporate or desktop workers are prone to sitting for long hours pushing us to sitting disease. As per statistics, sitting disease attracts 34 chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer.
With the outbreak of the pandemic, most industries have shifted to remote work and you can find most people sticking to their laptops at least for 6 hours every day. Sitting may not seem to be a problem until you can observe how long hours of sitting can degrade your productivity. Moreover, you can feel a chronic neck and back pain. Longer hours of sitting strains your back and also affects your sitting posture. Moreover, ignoring the sitting disease may further lead to poor posture syndrome.
Additionally, sitting disease often leads to back sore, heart disease.The sitting disease can be said to be a lifestyle hazard due to prolonged inactivity especially for workers who spend their day working on laptops or desktops. The sedentary lifestyle has increased the chances of death by 94% for employees spending more than 6 hours working on computers. Moreover, according to a study, laptop users are more prone to Cervical Musculoskeletal Dysfunction than desktop users owing to the screen positioning and sitting styles. However, it does not eliminate the same risk for desktop users with prolonged hours of inactive body movements.
The best way to combat sitting disease is increasing body movement through activities. You may not be able to cut down hours from your working time but you can take a break of 2 mins every hour to stand and walk around.
Additionally, you must stretch your neck and back now and then while working on your laptop or desktop to prevent neck and backaches. Standing up while talking on the phone or watching television can help you lose the excess conserved energy due to prolonged sitting. Invite body activities to combat the risks of sitting disease!
Smartphone – a term applied to our daily life is an integral device in the modern era. We can get groceries, call for a cab, or know new things just in a few clicks on our smartphone. Life has never been so convenient, but you cannot deny that almost everyone has become addicted to the smartphone. The prolonged hours of bending your neck while using your mobile can lead to Text neck, i.e, the stress injury on your neck. Even though the term ‘text neck’ has been derived from prolonged usage of mobile while texting, it does not give you a pass for surfing websites, playing games, or watching movies on your mobile.
Although the name ‘text neck’ may seem funny, the profound effect of it on your body is not a joke. As you bend down your neck while using your smartphone, the weight of the head pressurizes the tendons, ligaments, and muscles of the neck. A prolonged downward position of the head leads to a text neck indicated by mild neck ache. Further ignored it may lead to severe effects like upper backache, slip disk, cervical osteoarthritis, and cervical degenerative diseases.
Studies show that 35% population suffers from text neck problems due to the use of mobiles/smartphones for long hours. Moreover, excessive leaning of your head while using mobile significantly affects the posture of the head, neck, and shoulders. Studies exhibit that the frequency from smartphones, static muscular load, and restrictive neck flexion can impact respiratory functions.
Text neck is a common lifestyle change hazard that most people are not aware of. The best way to prevent text neck is by reducing the use of mobile phones and smartphones. Other preventive measures such as stretching the neck and shoulder during prolonged hours of mobile use, holding the smartphone at an eye-level, and sitting in proper posture while watching the smartphone can help avoid such implications.
You must perform exercises focusing on the head, neck, and shoulders to avoid pain due to text neck. There is no denying that smartphones have facilitated us with several opportunities, yet it is up to us whether we enjoy the advantages or get addicted to it to bear all the disadvantages.