A smartphone may distort your posture and breathing: How to fix them

We can pay, connect, calculate, or watch videos on smartphones.

While leaning forward on your phone, you may dislocate your vertebral column.

So, you may restrict the movements of your diaphragm, which cushions your heart and lungs.

Your throat gets blocked, making you breathe orally.

Currently, 80% of the global population uses smartphones, which equals 6 billion.

Your correct posture

Your correct posture relates to your spine. Your spine has three curves.

These are the curves in your vertebral column.

• At your neck

• Middle part of your back

• Your lower back

To maintain accurate posture, you must align these curves: your head above your shoulders and your shoulders above your hips.

Increasing these bends creates posture defects.

How do vertebral curves benefit you?

Your vertebral column is an inverted S-shaped, when viewed from the side. The curves have discs between the vertebrae, or units in your backbone.

These units:

• Support the nervous system

• Absorb shocks

• Distribute weight

• Provide flexibility

• Smoothen movements

• Protects your spinal cord

• Maintains your balance

Unhealthy vertebral curves cause:

• Headache

• Neck pain

• Shoulder pain

• Muscle cramps

• Forward head posture

When you bend your head forward, your neck has to hold a 12 kg weight.

What makes you breathe?

• You inhale air through your nose.

• Your diaphragm contracts and moves down

• Lungs expand to fill with inhaled air

• The oxygen moves through your blood

• Each cell in your body absorbs it

• Then your diaphragm expands

• Your lungs force the carbon dioxide out

• It comes out through your nose

Benefits of normal breathing

When you relax and breathe, the effects on your body are:

• Your body calms

• Blood pressure reduces

• Balanced nervous system

• Promotes physical energy

• Improves the immune system

• Reduces lactic acid in muscles

• Balanced carbon dioxide and oxygen in blood

• Maintains hormone levels

What happens to your throat when you bend your head forward for a long time?

You stitch or work on a computer, leaning forward for long hours. It is known as forward head posture.

Your neck suffers from:

• Painful or stiff neck

• Damaged nerves or blood vessels

• Altered posture

• Increased spinal pressure

Your tongue faces:

• Reduced pressure

• Tongue and neck wall distance increases

• Issues with pharynx and food pipe

• Eating and swallowing issues

• Speech problems

The advent of smartphones

• The first smartphone came to the world in 1994.

• It had features to connect, mail, and fax.

• IBM Simon introduced applications.

What is the concept of a smartphone?

Smartphones are small computers that help to

• Contact others or send messages

• Manage work

Your mobile phone has 18% higher levels of bacteria than your toilet seat.

How does your smartphone attract you?

Your smartphone has several features to attract you, but it also develops chemicals in your body.

• Psychological factors

• Dopamine secretion

• A possessive attitude

• Better connection

• Accessible knowledge

• Motivated and a Happy feeling

How have smartphones benefited many people during the pandemic period?

When we were confined to our homes, nature began to spread during the pandemic period.

The smartphones helped in:

• Attending classes

• Taking exams

• Working remotely

• Shopping

• Payments

• Banking

• Connecting globally

It created multiple psychological issues such as anxiety, depression, and irritability.

What are smartphones’ drawbacks on posture and respiration?

You bend your head down to watch something on your smartphone.

The effects are:

• Lung capacity reduces by 30%

• Compressed diaphragm leaves no space for lung expansion

• Modifications in muscles and bones in teens

• Blue light exposure reduces melatonin levels

• Poor sleep

• Poor posture

• Nasal breathing shifts to mouth

• Tiredness

• Mental issues

Top 10 countries using the most smartphones

• China

• India

• United States

• Indonesia

• Russia

• Nigeria

• Brazil

• Japan

• Pakistan

• Bangladesh

What do health professionals suggest?

Health professionals try to limit smartphone usage for many people.

They suggest that

• Your smartphone is your pocket heater

• You may not grow connections, but you grow tumors

• Treat your phone like an ex; give it some space.

• Mute your clingy pocket pal

• Scrolling through reels daily, does your finger have biceps?

56 minutes a day is the productive time lost by several employees on their smartphones. It is nearly 5 hours a week.

How do smartphones harm children?

Several parents allow their infants or toddlers to use their smartphones. They keep on scrolling through videos and stay calm.

However, it damages their cognition, motor skills, and grasping power. Some smartphone effects on

Children are:

• Undeveloped organs are exposed to radiation

• Sleep disturbances

• Vision problems

• Hearing impairment

• Reduced attentiveness

• Failing to socialize

• Decreased physical activity

• Cognitive dysfunction

Teenagers are:

• Academic distraction

• Cyber bullying

• Online harassment

• Addiction

• Social isolation

67% of children spent over 5 hours on smartphones worldwide.

Staying away from smartphones

Smartphones facilitate multiple tasks for us, but be conscious before investing your precious time in them.

To stay away from smartphones:

• Engage in hobbies

• Play sports

• Delete unnecessary applications

• Take breaks

• Delete all games

• Meditate

• Talk with family and friends

• Do not use it while driving

Parents must monitor their children’s phone usage and keep the device away from children.

How will you preserve your posture?

Smartphones help you track health patterns, steps, or heartbeats. They are not unavoidable. So, use them precisely, sort your time to meet friends, and cultivate creative hobbies. Phones are devices to help you; do not make them a possession. Blend your creativity to clear mental fog and capture healthy moments. Can you list the ways you adopted?