A smartphone is the most important aspect in today’s era, through which we can communicate, keep ourselves socialized and so on.
You may keep your smartphone close for an alarm or even to observe the quality of your sleep for health purposes.
However, your smartphone is not a good sleep companion! In addition to bedtime, your phone is harming you during the day in more ways than you realize.
The study looked at data from over 53,000 Korean adolescents from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey and discovered that teens who used their phones for more than 2 hours per day were significantly more likely to eat more processed foods and fewer fruits and vegetables than teens who put their phones down more frequently.
Dr. Rekha B. Kumar, attending endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and medical director of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, told Healthline, “These results do not surprise me considering that screen time is a totally sedentary activity occupying time in which teens could be participating in sports or other physical activities.”
Other outcomes from the study include:
- When compared to individuals who spent less than 2 hours a day on their phone, teens who spent at least 5 hours a day on their phone were more likely to consume carbonated and noncarbonated sugar-sweetened beverages, as well as eat fast food, chips, and instant noodles.
- People who used their phones to seek information ate better than those who used them to communicate, utilize messenger, play games, watch videos, listen to music, or connect on social media.
- Teens who spent the majority of their time on their phones playing games, watching videos, listening to music, or reading webtoons or web novels were more likely to be overweight or obese.