Your cellphone is a permanent part of your life. You take it with you everywhere. You feel lost without it. All your pants have a permanent mark from where you keep the phone in the pocket. You hear notifications from across the room or you even experience phantom notifications. While your phone is so precious, it can also cause a few health problems from overuse. That doesn’t mean you should use your phone as much as you do, it just means to need a few mobile healthcare tips.
Follow these tips to help keep you healthy and prevent issues caused by cell phones:
Use an Ear Piece to Protect From Radio Waves
The biggest worry about cell phones is that there is some speculation that they cause cancer. Mobile phones give off radio waves which is a form of radiation. As you know, radiation is bad and causes cancer. There is no for sure proof that these radio waves make you sick but the fear still exists. The worry is that the radio waves will get into your brain from having the phone up against your ear and head. Again, there is no definitive proof of this but sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry.
If you are worried about radio waves the best thing to do is to keep the phone as far from your head as possible. That means using an earpiece or hands-free headset when talking on the phone.
Clean Phones Regularly to Remove Bacteria
The biggest health risk when it comes to cell phones is bacteria. You probably don’t even realize how much bacteria is crawling all over your phone right this minute. Every time you set your phone done on a dirty surface it picks up bacteria. Every time you handle it after touching something else it picks up bacteria. You need to regularly clean the phone with antibacterial cleaning wipes to kill those bacteria before they make you sick.
Eliminate Distractions While Driving or Walking
Cell phones also pose a danger not just to your health but to you entire life. They are distractions that keep from paying attention to the world around you. If you text or talk while walking you could easily bump into something, fall down and hurt yourself, or even walk right into a street. The same goes for driving. Even if you use an ear piece you will pay more attention to the conversation than your surroundings. This could cause a deadly accident.
Use a Cover for Metal Allergies
Many people have extreme metal allergies, especially allergies to nickel. Unfortunately, many cell phones are made of cheaper metal that has nickel in it. This can cause rashes and red splotches on your hands and face. To prevent that use a case or cover that is made from plastic or some other material besides metal.
Use Touchscreen Phones to Prevent Blisters
Phones that have a keyboard with raised letters can cause blisters on your fingers. The more you text or type the more likely a blister will develop. To avoid those nasty blisters, purchase and use a cell phone that has a touch screen. Touchscreens use on screen keyboards instead of raised letters. The buttons are flat and so won’t create blisters on your skin.
Make Phones Calls to Prevent Chronic Joint Pain
When you type a lot on your cell phone, you are using your thumb and finger joints a lot. Overuse can cause joint pain. Even when not using your phone, your fingers might hurt and ache. It can be annoying and debilitating if it hurts too much to use your fingers. Prevent joint pain by making phone calls more often than texting. You’ll use your fingers and thumbs a lot less. Also, flex your fingers a little after typing for a long period of time to loosen them up.
Turn Down Volume to Prevent Hearing Loss
Do you use headphones or ear buds with your phone? If you do, you might be causing damage to your ears. If the volume is too loud it can harm your hearing. You might get that annoying ringing sound in your ear that just won’t go away. You can cause permanent hearing loss, too. Avoid all these problems by keeping the volume low. If you spend a lot of time in a crowded are so you can’t hear your music very well try using noise cancelling headphones. They are designed to drown out the sounds around you so you only hear your music.
Use the 20-20-20 Rule to Prevent Eye Strain
Phone screens are much smaller than computer screens, tablets, or TVs. You often have to squint your eyes a bit to see everyone on the tiny screen clearly. Squinting can harm your eyesight. The lights on the screen can also bother your eyes because they can be too bright, causing you to squint even more. All that squinting and those bright lights can cause eye strain, blurry vision, headaches, and eventually cause sight loss.
To prevent this from happening use the 20-20-20 rule when using your phone for long periods of time. Here’s what you do:
- Use your phone for 20 minutes and then stop what you are doing.
- Look up from the phone and stare off into the distance at an object that is about 20 feet away from you.
- Stare at that object for at least 20 seconds.
- Look back at the phone and repeat after another 20 minutes.
This forces your eyes to rest for a few moments and focus on the distance before putting them back to work with all that squinting and the close screen.
All of these mobile healthcare tips will help prevent common health problems from using cell phones. None of them are all that difficult to follow and you don’t have to give up time on your cell phone to do them. Teach these tips to your kids as soon as they start using cell phones so they are ingrained from the start.
