If you walk into a café or onto a train, you’ll probably see a sea of heads, all bent over their phones. This is a common sight as more people increase their usage of electronic devices. But, this is a problem. Studies show that getting a lot of screen time isn’t good for your physical, mental, or emotional health. Excess screen time may also increase your stress levels. So, if you suffer from adrenal fatigue or other health concerns, then this is one issue that you will have to address to safeguard your recovery.
The idea that too much screen time could be bad for your health is a recent one. Until fairly recently, technological devices like our phones and computers were seen in a purely positive light. They are an easy and almost universal way to stay connected with people and learn about the world. But lately, some researchers have claimed that too much screen time may be a health threat.
Americans spend more than 11 hours a day interacting with technology. This is a huge increase in screen time, specifically an increase of 9 hours and 32 minutes from four years ago. In the first quarter of 2018, American adults spent 3 hours and 48 minutes on their devices. Most of that time was spent on apps or surfing the web on smartphones. The largest portion of this 11 hours of exposure is taken up by watching television, which consumes a daily average of 4 hours and 46 minutes of our time.
These are startling and frightening statistics. Where people would have exercised, spent time with friends, indulge in hobbies, or educate themselves, they now sit in front of screens. Technology can be a wonderful thing. But if you want to be happy and healthy, it’s time to think about how much screen time you’re consuming and everything else that you should be doing instead.
If you have AFS, it might seem easier to spend your free time relaxing and watching television. AFS is caused by excessive stress and the most common symptom is ongoing tiredness. This might make it seem reasonable to spend your free time resting in front of the television. But, this will make you feel worse. This type of fatigue is caused by overworked adrenal glands. Your adrenal glands are part of the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response, which determines your body’s reactions to stress. When you’re under chronic, ongoing stress, this system becomes burdened and begins to dysfunction. This will cause imbalance throughout your body, as well as that feeling of constant tiredness.
If you feel tired all the time, then you won’t want to participate in hobbies, socialize, exercise, or do anything energetic. This could lead to you taking the easy route of increasing your screen time. However, this will only make your health and your AFS worse. It will leave you socially isolated, affect your mood and sleeping patterns, and increase your Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) exposure. This will damage your health and worsen your adrenal fatigue.
One of the most dangerous things about screen time is that it doesn’t always make you feel happy. Focusing on news feeds about all the dangers in the world, envying the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and browsing images of unaffordable but desirable things will probably make you very unhappy.
Spending too much time on social media has been linked to depression and loneliness. And if you’re spending more time on your phone instead of socializing or doing other, more beneficial activities, it will harm your life. It will also adversely affect your AFS by increasing your stress levels and worsening imbalances in the body’s circuits.
The blue light from your screens can also affect your sleep patterns. This is because it disrupts melatonin production and activates neurons that promote alertness. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates your biological clock or circadian rhythm (which is your internal sleep schedule). Sleep is essential for your physical and emotional health. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, then you will be less happy and feel more stressed.
Poor sleeping patterns will negatively impact your AFS. Also, you may experience sleep disruptions for a variety of reasons. These sleep disruptors include neurotransmitter imbalances, circadian rhythm disruptions, and circuit dysfunctions. If these problems are worsened due to excessive screen time, it will cause additional stress and fatigue.
However, there’s yet another problem with getting too much screen time, and it’s a highly controversial one.
When you get excess screen time, you also expose yourself to high levels of Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF). This type of radiation is a controversial subject in the health fields. At this stage, there’s no strong evidence that EMFs can cause health problems. However, there are ongoing studies on this issue. Researchers have found a loose connection between high rates of cell phone exposure and glioma rates. Gliomas are a type of cancer that is found in the brain and spine. However, there isn’t enough evidence to prove that cell phone exposure causes this type of cancer.
But EMF may do more than increase your risk of cancer. There is evidence to suggest that low-frequency EMFs emitted by computers and other devices may cause neurological and psychiatric problems. These EMFs cause changes in human nerve functions, which can have a devastating effect on mood and sleep patterns. If you have AFS and a sensitive body, this may harm your health and impede your recovery.
If you have AFS, you must reduce your EMF exposure as much as possible. When you have AFS, your adrenal glands are fatigued because of overwork. Your adrenals perform several vital functions in your body, including triggering the “fight or flight” response. So, when they malfunction, the effects can be widespread and unpredictable. Unfortunately, EMF exposure can increase oxidative stress and cause structural adrenal gland changes. This can lead to further adrenal insufficiencies and deprive the body of the enzymes it needs to maintain adrenal balance. It may also lead to an accumulation of harmful toxins in the body.
Your Detoxification Circuit is one of the body’s primary systems for dealing with stress. It includes the immune system, the liver, and the interstitium. The Detoxification Circuit is responsible for removing harmful toxins and metabolites from the body, rendering them inert, and excreting them. When this system becomes unbalanced, the toxins will build up in your body. Oxidative stress is one of the biggest threats to the health of this system. It creates free radicals, cells that travel throughout the body to damage your healthy cells. These free radicals also contribute to the body’s toxic load.
When you have AFS, the organs and systems in the Detoxification Circuit struggle to function properly. Stress, a poor diet, and environmental toxins encourage the creation of metabolites. Metabolites are the products generated as the body breaks down substances. These metabolites are usually rendered inert and excreted. But when there’s a buildup of them due to AFS and Detoxification Circuit impairment, then they flood the liver, the interstitium, and your blood. Too much screen time and overexposure to EMF will just contribute to this toxic overload. The body will become toxic and congested as the Detoxification Circuit struggles to eliminate these toxins. This will increase your stress levels, and worsen your AFS and its most troubling symptoms.
The only way to alleviate this problem is to decrease the amount of screen time that you consume. Instead, try adopting pastimes that are more beneficial and nourishing for your body and health.
You can’t change the amount of time that you spend on your computer and phone for your work. However, it’s in your personal life that the biggest changes can be made about how you spend your time. Reducing your screen time will improve your life in a variety of ways. It will encourage you to develop better and healthier pastimes. You will also have the time and space you need to make them into life-enhancing habits. This will not only benefit your health as a whole, but it will also help to alleviate your AFS and Detoxification Circuit imbalance.
More studies are showing that too much screen time is dangerous for your health in several ways. This is a major problem if you’re spending too much time in front of screens when it’s detrimental to your mental, emotional, and physical health.
