HEALTH SPECIAL .....Four reasons why you need to keep an eye on your screen-time

Four reasons why you need to keep an eye on your screen-time

Staring at digital screens for more than seven hours a day is changing our bodies and possibly even our brains

Most of us stare at screens all day, but this comes with consequences. Screens are changing our bodies and possibly even our brains.

It’s 11 pm. You should be asleep. But you’re watching a video on your phone. Tomorrow, you’ll wake up and go to work, where you’ll stare at your computer for eight hours. When you get home, you’ll watch a movie on TV. And if you’re anything like the average adult, you spend more than seven hours a day staring at digital screens.

Computer Vision Syndrome

So, what’s all this screen time actually doing to your body and brain? Humans didn’t evolve to stare at bright screens all day. And our eyes are suffering the consequences. An estimated 58 per cent of people who work on computers experience what’s called Computer Vision Syndrome.

It’s a series of symptoms that include:

• Eyestrain • Blurred vision

• Headaches • Neck and back pain

Nearsightedness

And long-term, this amount of screen time could be damaging our vision permanently. Since 1971, cases of nearsightedness in the US have nearly doubled, which some scientists partly link to increased screen time. And in Asia today, nearly 90 per cent of teens and adults are nearsighted. But it’s not just the brightness of our screens that affect us.

Disruption of circadian rhythms

A problem occurs when we use our screens at night. Typically, when the sun sets, we produce the hormone melatonin. This hormone regulates our circadian rhythms, helping us feel tired and fall asleep. But studies have found that blue light from screens can disrupt this process.

Effect on kids

But perhaps the most concerning changes from all this screen time is in kids’ brains. An ongoing study supported by the NIH (USA) has found that some pre-teens who clocked over seven hours a day on screens had differences in a part of their brains called the cortex. That’s the region responsible for processing information from our five senses.

Scientists aren’t sure what this could mean for how the kids learn and behave later in life. But the same data also showed that kids who spent more than two hours a day on screens scored lower on thinking and language skill tests. Only time will tell what other changes are on the horizon for humankind.

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TOI 3MAR19