The Healthy Pros and Cons of Mobile Phones

There are lots of ways your mobile can help keep you fit and healthy… and a few ways it doesn’t help so much.

Monitor your diet with calorie counting apps. They have access to massive databases of food and it can be as simple as scanning the bar code on the packaging. You might be surprised at how many calories you are actually consuming so logging your food and drink is the first step to getting it under control. You can get meal planning and recipe apps too.

Track your run, cycle, hike or even dog walk. With GPS or even just network location your phone can track your route, estimate calorie burn and show your pace. You can save your favourite routes and challenge yourself to complete them faster or share online for support and accountability.

Exercise programmes aren’t just done in front of the TV anymore. There are lots of apps for different fitness regimes that will guide you through your workout and keep track of them for you, even reminding you when you haven’t exercised for a while.Newer mobiles have heart rate sensors to help you keep track of that useful metric. Over time your resting heart rate can show your fitness trends and is worth keeping an eye on. During exercise checking your heart rate can help you get in the zone and optimise your workout.

There are mobile phone apps that will monitor your sleep – a vital part of health and wellbeing. But your mobile phone might be disrupting your sleep because of the light from the screen.

This light, which is in the blue part of the spectrum, is very similar to sunlight. Sunlight is good for us too, provides vitamins, boosts moods and keeps your body alert. But if you use your phone at night this artificial sunlight tricks your body into thinking it is still daytime and stops it producing sleep hormones. This can lead to insomnia and sleep deprivation from disrupting the Circadian rhythm.

The WaveWall Sleep screen protector blocks the blue light from your phone and helps you get a good night’s sleep – avoiding side effects like stress, depression, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

An essential part of how your phone works is the electromagnetic field it uses to communicate with the network. But that electromagnetic field is made of radiation that passes through the body and has been shown to damage the production of sperm, leading to male infertility.

An anti-radiation phone case from WaveWall blocks 80% of that radiation from reaching the body. You can use your phone as normal, plus protect it from knocks and scrapes, while protecting yourself from mobile phone radiation.

How do you use your phone to keep healthy? What about the ways it might harm your health?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!