How technology affects our health

We’re living in the digital era. Since mobile phones interrupted our lives, we’ve observed important changes in our habits, personal relationships, and in all aspects of our lives. These changes have their advantages, but everything has two sides to it, and the truth is, that there are also consequences for our health and wellbeing.

You can differentiate these consequences by those that affect our everyday behaviour and personal relationships, and those that affect our healthy directly. As we know, technological devices are a part of our everyday life, in our work and personal lives, whether it’s by the use of smartphones, tablets, computers, televisions, etc. The constant contact we have with technology forces us to be hyper connected. We are connected at all times, with everybody. The great advantage of this is that we can communicate instantly, keep up to date with all the latest news, and educate ourselves in topics of interest, amongst many other things. However, all of this also causes us to lose the capacity of disconnecting. We have become addicted to staying connected all the time, and in fact, we’re even expected to. That’s why it’s important to do a digital detox once in a while, whether it’s a couple hours a day, or several hours during the weekend. A digital detox consists of freeing oneself of all technological devices and fully disconnecting, whether by reading a book, going for a walk, working out, cooking, or spending time with friends and family.

Beyond the changes that technology has caused in our day-to-day life and personal relationships, there are also consequences that can be detrimental to our health and wellbeing. On the one hand, the constant stimuli from technology cause our brain to function quicker. The outburst of digital devices, especially smartphones, send more stimuli to our brain than it can even process. One of the main tasks our brains have to on a daily basis is delete the information that isn’t of vital importance. When we’re connected all day, the brain starts responding in a stressful and anxious mode, as a consequence, diminishing concentration levels (caused by the amount of different stimuli and interruptions its receiving), as well as the capacity to memorise. If the brain spends too much time in the high frequency (beta, around 30Hz), it can cause our nervous system to lose balance between action-reparation, causing a negative effect in our sleep, memory and general health.

Since the digital era is a phenomenon of the last 20 years, there is still much to be studied around the affects it has on our health. However, there are numerous scientific studies that outline the detrimental affects electromagnetic radiations have on our health, considered to be a potential carcinogen by the World Health Organization. The introduction of 5G means there is going to be many more antennas around us, with a higher potency, thus, causing more physiological affects. We have to understand the nervous system ‘speaks’ the same electric language and our cells communicate with one another using that same language, based on rhythms (frequencies). If we’re surrounded by an environment that is ‘shouting’ the same language, it’s normal to consider that intercellular communication is going to be affected. We are yet to discover the affects that this is going to have on our long-term health.

In the meantime, whilst the number of studies of the affects technology has on our health keeps growing, we have to do everything in our hands to be wise with the use of digital devices. We should have a responsible and reasonable use of technology, mark a safe distance between devices and our body, turn our phones off at night, practice digital detoxes and be very conscious of the affects they have on our health and on our life.

At SHA Wellness Clinic you can visit our Energy Health unit where Dr. Ana María Oliva focuses on finding the main cause of imbalances in the body (both emotional and physical), which in many cases is caused by an overuse of technology.