It's yet another week of featured content and I'm thrilled to share on this topic as it has become part of my lifestyle. As a graduate of Cyber security science and a remote worker, greater percent of my day is spent on the screen either carrying out a research, trying to complete a deliverable or reaching out to a new connection in cyber security community. The computer system has actually become an indespensable tool in this digital world because ministries, departments and agencies now depends on the internet for meetings, discussions etc. I will be sharing how it affected me (negatively) and how am able to find solutions to the many danger inherent in having eyes on the screen all day.
What was the side effects of too much time on screen?
Firstly, It strains my eyes.
Due to spending more than a couple hours consecutively staring at either my phone or laptop, i risked my dry eye from blinking less, headaches, blurred vision, and general eyestrain were the result particularly because I had an untreated vision problems. Unlike reading from a printed page, it's usually hard for my eyes to focus on a digital screen because the letters aren't as sharp, there's less contrast between the backlit letters and background.
Secondly, the use of phone and laptop during my undergraduate days at federal university of technology Minna, Niger state Nigeria during the hour before bed mostly known as "till day break" and TDB for short , make it harder for sleep to come ; this is partly due to the artificial bluer light that suppresses the hormones that promotes sleep.
Another notable effect spending hours on computers is that a couple hours of hunching over my computer do trigger discomfort. It begins with pain in the back of the neck and then shoulders o the head,also there is usually a comprise in posture.
Moreso, hours on my computer has also affected my relationship with friends and Communication skills, I preferred using messaging applications and it really Made my social life to suffer. In summary, it affected my posture, my mental health, social development and physical growth too.
What then did I do?
Given the many setbacks of spending hours on the computers as highlighted above would make you think If I continued using computers or not; and if not, how am I able to manage it?
Well, I still use computers today as I've always done thanks to a family doctor!
Once I started noticing the health consequences of spending hours on screen, the first thing my doctor pointed was my posture while in computer.
He said poor posture can squish your lungs and make breathing more difficult thereby causing pains in my head, back, neck and shoulder!
He recommended:
- stretches like tilting the head from front to back and from side to side to ensure proper posture.
- Ensuring ears are aligned with shoulders and shoulder blades are retracted, especially when looking at phone.
- Instead of hunching forward, lower your eyes and raise your arms to bring your screen into view. Trying these techniques eventually gave me a proper posture thereby reducing the pains and stress.
In addition to that, I practiced the act of moving around regularly, this is usually to allow proper blood circulation in the body system thereby reducing eye strain
Giving my eyes break from computer also helped a great deal - Adequate sleep also helped
Practicing the few tips above was and is still instrumental to me overcoming the many side effects I faced while using computers for long hours.
[source] https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a47126/ways-your-phone-is-ruining-your-health/