From Screens to Heart Disease: How Your Digital Habits Are Harming You
Long hours of screen time, continuous oscillatory eyeball movements, and a sedentary lifestyle while sitting for hours on a chair staring at computer screens pose sleep risks to our cardiovascular system.
We live in an era of artificial intelligence. At one end of the spectrum, it makes our mental tasks much easier, but at the other end, it takes a toll on our physical well-being and fitness. Long hours of screen time, continuous oscillatory eyeball movements, and a sedentary lifestyle while sitting for hours on a chair staring at computer screens pose sleep risks to our cardiovascular system. Dr Abhinav Chhabra, Senior Consultant Cardiologist, Consults on Practo shares all you need to know:
The risks arising from prolonged screen time can range from hypertension, glaucoma, slow metabolism, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and coronary artery disease. Not to forget other lifestyle diseases like migraine, diabetes, and stroke.
related stories
The solution lies in fragmenting the screen time into short intervals (<30 minutes in a stretch) with intermittent breaks, replacing bedtime use of phones with some old-school book reading habits.
Let’s dive deeper into what possible mistakes we are making in this digital era that pose risks to our cardiovascular system:
1. Watching screens closer to the eyes (<3 feet distance).
2. Prolonged staring at the screen for 30 minutes to 5 hours, as some IT professionals do.
3. Long sitting hours (up to 5-10 hours in a stretch).
4. Sleep deprivation.
5. Dehydration and junk food consumption, as divided attention leads to less mindful eating.
6. Smoking and excessive caffeine intake while watching screens.
Our hearts are prone to developing diastolic dysfunctions, or in other words, prone to becoming stiff due to a lack of physical exercise. The incidence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and ultimately metabolic syndrome is rising, which reduces the overall life expectancy in such sedentary individuals.
So, let’s make it a habit to limit screen time by intermittent brisk walks, good hydration, mindful eating habits, limiting the use of caffeine and tobacco, and daily 30-minute cardio exercises for a better heart and mind.
- Location :
- First Published: