Food, health, and care are three key components for determining nutritional status. Due to advancements in modern technologies and increased exposure to digital devices, we use phones or smartphones frequently. Diverse groups of people are directly or indirectly affected at distinct levels due to differences in screen and talk time, purposes of use, etc.
Let’s try to focus on some points that may affect our health and nutritional status for heavy users of phones or smartphones. Here I would like to focus on the possible benefits of less use of phones on the nutritional status of an individual.
Opportunity for promoting active life: Let’s increase physical activity by reducing sedentary activities. So, increase energy expenditure for burning more calories by reducing time for holding or carrying a mobile in hand (The relationship between cell phone use, physical and sedentary activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness in a sample of U.S. college students | International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)).
Possibilities of reduction of the levels of distraction by phones. It’s a distracting object. So, you may be less focused on your needs. You also waste your valuable time. Increase your focus on deliberate food intake and promote healthy food choices (Attention or Distraction? The Impact of Mobile Phone on Users’ Psychological Well-Being – PubMed (nih.gov)).
Intervention to promote healthy food consumption: Reduce the frequency of consumption of unhealthy foods by seeing advertisements while using mobile (Smartphone use associated with unhealthy eating and overweight in teens (nutrition.org)).
Supporting normal hand movements, blood circulation, and muscle activities: It may affect hand movement, brain function, muscle movement, blood circulation, etc. (Effect of Smartphone on Hand Performance and Strength in the Healthy Population – PMC (nih.gov))
Controlling the risks for developing malnutrition: Mood, emotion, anxiety, etc. may influence the regulations of appetite, food choices, eating, etc. which may help to develop malnutrition in the short, mid, and long term (Frontiers | Using Smartphones When Eating Increases Caloric Intake in Young People: An Overview of the Literature (frontiersin.org)).
So, a reduction of holding times for phones would increase the amount of real-time per day for alternative purposes which may help us to achieve and maintain optimum nutritional status.
Let’s increase hand activities (physical activities) and burn more calories for a balanced calorie intake
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*Codes are used to make a common list of references to be published in the future.
*Featured image credit goes to https://www.pexels.com
If you are interested to learn more, please visit the following links:
Smartphone use while eating increases caloric ingestion – ScienceDirect
Is your cell phone dangerous to your health? – Harvard Health
Smartphone Finger: Causes, Treatment, Prevention, and More (healthline.com)
Digital solutions for promoting physical activity (who.int)