Avoid health risks from smartphones, notebooks and tablet PCs

Smartphones, tablets and notebooks can cause serious health problems. We'll show you how to stay healthy anyway.

Spend five minutes on a busy intersection and you'll meet them: people who use their tablet or smartphone to make up at risk. For example, those who operate their smartphone at the wheel of a car. But distraction while driving is far from the only danger lurking behind the use of smartphones, tablets and Co. Less dramatic but no less dangerous are the risks did most users do not even know exist. For example, ergonomics risks are not new to computer users. notebooks however, those who have outdated the desktop pc in terms of sales now, their own health hazards. Touch screens so threaten health risks.

Health risks for PCs, notebooks, tablets

Medical experts have identified three categories of computer-based diseases that apply to both traditional desktop PCs and the newer mobile touch-screen devices:

Injuries due to repetitive movements

This disease is also known as RSI: Repetitive Stress Injuries, meaning "repetitive stress injuries". RSI results from repetitive large and small movements that strain joints, muscles, tendons and nerves. Quervain syndrome - a painful disease that affects the tendons responsible for moving the thumb.
Diseases due to unnatural posture and force
These disorders occur when people use their body in ways that are physically stressful, such as unnaturally turning and tilting their wrists as they type, or tensing them too tightly. The carpal tunnel syndrome - the most well-known disease in this category - arises, for example, from excessive, long-lasting pressure on the median nerve in the wrist.

Eye diseases
Anyone struggling to decipher text on a screen - be it because the typeface is too small, or because mirroring or the like makes it difficult to see - risks eye disorders ranging from annoying and annoying to incapacity to work. Symptoms, often referred to as "Computer Vision Syndrome", include, but are not limited to, eye pain and redness, cloudy or doubled vision, and headache.

Many people are also concerned about the radiation emanating from old CRT monitors as well as smartphones, tablets and wireless devices. However, research has yielded contradictory results so far. However, it seems the risk is low if you follow the manufacturer's guidelines for the safe use of the device.

Touch screens and notebooks pose new risks

Thanks to various health organizations and education strategies, many people today are better acquainted with the possibilities to protect themselves from certain risks than they did 10 or 15 years ago. Salespeople of computers, peripherals, and office furniture emphasize the ergonomic benefits of their products, and manuals and manuals provide guidance on how to use the product safely and healthily. Unfortunately, awareness of the risks and hazards inherent in the PC environment has not yet penetrated the realm of recent touchscreen devices and notebooks . We want to show you below:

Health risks in notebook use

For years, notebook users were forced to sacrifice performance in favor of lower weight. In the meantime, however, laptops sometimes even outpower desktops in terms of speed and storage space. For this reason, notebooks often fulfill both purposes: work on the road and at home, or in the office and at work. Unfortunately, their design ergonomically restricts the notebooks quite a bit. For example, because the screen and keyboard stick together, you can not position them optimally for your needs.

Perfect sitting in front of the notebook

As a replacement for a desktop PC and longer working hours on the laptop , you should therefore think about an external monitor. This allows you to position your notebook's keyboard at desktop height - with your elbows resting on your desk at a 90-degree angle - while keeping the screen at eye level. If this investment is too expensive for you, get yourself a raised console for your laptop screen and a separate keyboard. Both then align exactly as described above.

Use external keyboard for notebook

However, notebooks carry even more dangers when used in convenient or unfamiliar places, such as a guest desk in the office or at the desk of a hotel room. There it is all the more difficult to find a position that protects the neck, shoulders, arms, wrists and hands. If you work a lot while traveling, it's best to always carry a light, external keyboard and mouse. And give the laptop an elevated working position with a book or similar device underneath.

Use notebook in bed

If you insist your laptopWhile sitting in bed or watching TV on the sofa, you can resist the temptation of lying on your side and supporting your head with one arm: it damages your neck and makes it nearly impossible to close the keyboard in a reasonably natural position serve. In bed, you should sit with an upright back, supported by a firm pillow. Also, place another pillow under your knees and position the screen of your laptop so that any light sources behind you are not reflected off of the display. Even if you take these precautions, you should not use your laptop for more than 5 to 10 minutes at a time in such positions without taking a break. Do you need to work on the laptop for more than half an hour?

Health risks from smartphones and tablets

Where notebooks already seduce people to use them in the most unlikely places, put smartphones and tabletsone more thing. Because they can actually be used anywhere and in almost any posture - most of which are not necessarily healthy. Your neck and cervical spine are extremely sensitive to bad posture. In the long term, this can also lead to bruising or overstretching of those nerve tracts that run through the spinal cord. Refrain from supposedly beneficial stretching of the head forward or backward, as well as twists and inclinations to the right and left sides. Instead, take regular breaks from the screen work. If you feel pain, numbness or a tingling sensation, stop what you are doing right now and return to a more comfortable position.