adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Health

How to kick a phone addiction? Here are our favorite tips.

Published

 on

Adam Birney / Android Authority

Smartphones can be incredibly productive tools for certain tasks, but sometimes we can get a little too attached to the point of obsession. Nearly everyone nowadays owns a phone, and the rise in use seems like a natural necessity to navigate modern life.

But an increasing number of people are finding it stressful or even unbearable to live without one. Doctors have started calling this behavioral addiction “nomophobia,” as in no-mobile-phone-phobia or the fear of being without a mobile device. Here’s what you need to know about phone addiction and some tips and tricks from the team here at Android Authority to help combat it.

300x250x1

What the scientific research says

Some may be skeptical that phone addiction is a real thing. But several studies on the heavy use of these devices should raise eyebrows. Here are just a few shocking statistics to consider.

You may still think, so what if so many people can’t put their phones away? Isn’t it up to them to choose how they spend their time? Of course, people are free to make their own choices, even if it is choosing to have a phone instead of wearing shoes. But our capacity to choose becomes clouded when interacting with something that literally rewires the brain.

Our capacity to choose becomes clouded when interacting with something that literally rewires the brain.

The nature of addiction involves an inability to control usage, a compulsion to use without being conscious of it, and persistence to continue using despite harmful consequences to oneself and others. For example, someone who smokes cigarettes may know the dangers and want to quit but simply can’t without support. Similarly, overcoming phone addiction often involves awareness and a plan to taper use with the encouragement of others.

The consequences of phone addiction

If you don’t think phones can be as bad for you as cigarettes, you may be surprised. Chronic phone use has been shown to alter our brain chemistry, such as causing GABA dysfunction (a neurotransmitter in the brain that produces a calming or euphoric effect) and a loss of Grey Matter in the brain (a part of the central nervous system responsible for enabling individuals to control movement, memory, and emotions). Researchers have noted that both brain changes are highly similar to those who struggle with substance use disorders.

grey matter brain smartphone addiction

Adam Birney / Android Authority

Physical signs of phone addiction resemble substance abuse.

But it’s not just ourselves that phone addiction harms. We can become so distracted by our phones that we often fail to see the most basic things, sometimes at great cost to others. One extreme example involved security camera footage from San Francisco public transit, which revealed that a shooter could pull out his gun and handle it at length without anyone noticing before he eventually shot a fellow passenger. Being distracted from our immediate environment can mean the difference between life and death.

Tips and tricks from the AA team

Here at Android Authority, phones aren’t just a hobby, they’re a full-time job. Still, our team members are aware of the harms they can cause and have built strategies to help them avoid addiction. I asked them to share their best tips.

The advice given can be broken down into three basic strategies: limiting notifications, taking purposeful breaks, and thinking critically about how you use your phone. Here are some quotes from the team on each method to fight phone addiction.

Limit notifications

Android 13 New Notification Permissions

Robert Triggs / Android Authority

Our smartphones are designed to be hard to put down. The technology purposely keeps us engaged by using colors, sounds, and vibrations for notification alerts. Selecting which apps can deliver notifications or silencing them all can help prevent distraction. Here’s how some of our team members control their notifications.

“I turned off audible notifications a long time ago, and I’ve never turned them back on. I live my life, and when I am ready to dive into the phone, the messages are right there for me to deal with. While I still spend a lot of time on the phone, for work and leisure, I do not allow notifications to distract me when I am not on the phone. I’m much happier for it.”

I choose when to pick my phone up and engage, not the other way around.

“So far, I have only taken one step to actively reduce my phone usage, which is to put my phone on Do Not Disturb all the time. Only phone calls and alarms can ring — anything else is silent. That greatly reduces the urgency to check my phone every time it dings or pings or hums or drums.”

“My phone is on do not disturb 100% of the time. I choose when to pick it up and engage, not the other way around. Likewise, I disable all but key messaging app notifications on my smartwatch and limit cross-device syncing (e.g., getting phone notifications on my laptop).”

Take deliberate breaks

A woman touching the JBL Charge 5 as it rests on the armrest of her chair.

Zak Khan / Android Authority

Setting aside a time of day when you do not use your phone is a great way to give yourself a routine break from your devices. Here’s how and when some of our team members make sure to put their phones away.

“I consciously ignore my phone on weekends and during family or friend outings. I can look at the always-on display and see if there’s anything urgent (spoiler: nothing really is), and when I’m wearing my Pixel Watch, I get a vibration only from a few very select apps. My phone is nearby if I need it, but it’s not a priority then. The silent notifications help a lot.”

“I don’t look at my phone at all until after I’ve showered, eaten breakfast, and taken my daughter to daycare. A small declaration of “me time” each day before The Internet intrudes and messes it all up. Whatever is on there has gone unattended to while I was asleep anyway, so an extra hour or two isn’t going to make much difference.”

“I started placing my phone in a drawer in the evenings when I spend time with my wife to stop myself from randomly checking it and getting lost on Twitter or Reddit.”

“One way is by just placing my phone in a completely different room in the house before going to bed. It’s hard the first few days, but if you stick it through, you get into the habit of not checking your phone right as you’re trying to fall asleep.”

Become conscious of your usage and go easy on yourself

Google Digital Wellbeing stock photo 5

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Breaking any kind of addiction is hard and won’t happen in one day. But taking small steps each day and being aware of how and when you use your phone is ultimately one of the best strategies for establishing healthy digital habits. Here are some insights from our team on how they consciously monitor their mobile usage.

“My phone addiction ebbs and flows. There are days when I barely touch my phone because I’m enjoying some relaxing time with my husband/family or I’m working at my desk (another screen, ha!) and days when I can’t seem to put the phone down. I have learned to accept the good and the bad of these, knowing that they balance out eventually.”

“I found that placing a widget on my home screen that shows the total time I spent on the phone that day is useful. Most days, it’s at least two hours, going up to three or four, which is way more than it should be to me. Especially considering I spend most of my day in front of my computer anyway.”

“While Digital Wellbeing and Screen Time are fine additions to popular platforms, I think they also have the potential to outsource responsibility a bit (e.g., by looking at your stats, you’re somehow “doing something” when in reality you’re not. Also, their very existence on your phone means you’re, um, still on your phone).

Just as phone addiction slowly escalates, fighting that addiction becomes easier over time too

I think it’s better to self-reflect on what and how you use your phone and be honest with yourself. If you know why you do something, it’ll be far easier to change your bad habits for the better. Plus, spending some time thinking critically about how you use your phone at least means you’re not actually on it.

And finally, a word of wisdom: Just as phone addiction slowly escalates, fighting that addiction becomes easier over time too. I used to use my phone far more than I do now. But the more you define boundaries, the easier it gets not to pick your phone up compulsively. I can easily go an entire weekend without even touching a smartphone if I’ve got better things to do. But I had to start somewhere.

That’s all the advice from our team here at Android Authority. To recap, silence unimportant notifications, have a set period of the day or week where you do not use your phone, and use visual reminders such as screen time widgets or Digital Wellbeing to put your phone usage into perspective and set boundaries around your habits. We hope this article helps you understand and overcome any phone addictions you or your friends might face.

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Measles case reported locally turns out to be negative: health unit

Published

 on

NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE MUSKOKA DISTRICT HEALTH UNIT
*************************
On March 26, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) was notified by Public Health Ontario’s (PHO) laboratory that due to laboratory error, the case of measles that had been lab-confirmed positive on March 12, based on symptoms and a positive urine measles laboratory result by PHO’s laboratory, is in fact negative for the measles virus.

“With this new information of the negative lab result, we believe that that individual was not infected with measles and that there has not been any public exposure to measles resulting from this individual’s illness,” said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health. “We recognize that notifying the public of what we believed to be a positive measles case in our area created worry, anxiety and disruption for some, and we regret this.

“We do know that, despite best efforts, on rare occasions laboratory errors can occur. We are working closely with the PHO’s laboratory to do all that we can to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.”

Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads very easily through airborne transmission. The measles virus can live in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours.

300x250x1

Symptoms of measles begin seven to 21 days after exposure and include fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness, and red eyes. Small white spots appear on the inside of the mouth and throat but are not always present. Three to seven days after symptoms begin, a red, blotchy rash appears on the face and then progresses down the body.

The risk of transmission to those vaccinated with two doses is low, and when it does occur tends to show a reduction in the severity of these symptoms.

“Although we are relieved for the individual involved, and for all Simcoe-Muskoka residents, that this case has now been confirmed as negative, we know that measles is still active in Ontario at this time and the potential remains for new cases to arise, especially given the increase in Ontarians travelling to areas in the world that have higher numbers of measles cases,” said Dr. Gardner. “This is why we continue to advise individuals to keep up to date with their routine immunizations, including measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.”

The risk of measles is low for people who have been fully immunized with two doses of measles vaccine or those born before 1970; however, many children have been delayed in receiving their routine childhood immunizations and people who have not had two doses of measles vaccine are at higher risk of contracting the disease.

People who do get sick usually recover without treatment, but measles can be more severe for infants, pregnant women, and those with compromised immune systems. Possible complications include middle-ear infections, pneumonia, diarrhea, or encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and occasionally death in the very young. Even individuals who are up to date with the measles vaccine should watch for symptoms of measles for 21 days after exposure.

For more information about measles, please visit smdhu.org or call Health Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520, Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to speak with a public health professional.

*************************

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Kate Middleton Not Alone. Cancer On Rise For People Under 50, Say Experts

Published

 on

<!–

–>

Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery

London:

300x250x1

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she was being treated for cancer last week, part of the shock was that an otherwise healthy 42-year-old has a disease that mostly plagues older people.

However, researchers have been increasingly sounding the alarm that more and more people under 50 are getting cancer — and no one knows why.

Across the world, the rate of under-50s diagnosed with 29 common cancers surged by nearly 80 percent between 1990 and 2019, a large study in BMJ Oncology found last year.

window._rrCode = window._rrCode || [];_rrCode.push(function() (function(v,d,o,ai)ai=d.createElement(“script”);ai.defer=true;ai.async=true;ai.src=v.location.protocol+o;d.head.appendChild(ai);)(window, document, “//a.vdo.ai/core/v-ndtv/vdo.ai.js”); );

The researchers predicted the number of new cancer cases among younger adults will rise another 30 percent by the end of this decade, with wealthy countries particularly affected.

The increase in cases — and soaring global population — means that the number of deaths among under 50s from cancer has risen by nearly 28 percent over the last 30 years.

This occurred even as the odds of people of all ages surviving cancer have roughly doubled over the last half century.

Shivan Sivakumar, a cancer researcher at the UK’s University of Birmingham, called it an “epidemic” of young adult cancer.

Since Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery earlier this year, Sivakumar and other doctors have spoken out about the uptick in younger cancer patients they have been seeing at their clinics.

While breast cancer remains the most common for people under 50, the researchers expressed particular concern about the rise of gastrointestinal cancers — such as of the colon, pancreas, liver and oesophagus — in younger adults.

Colon cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths in men under 50 in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. For women, it is number two — behind only breast cancer.

One high profile case of colorectal cancer was “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman, who died at the age of 43 in 2020.

Why is this happening?

“We just don’t have the evidence yet” to say exactly what is causing this rise, Sivakumar told AFP, adding it was likely a combination of factors.

Helen Coleman, a cancer epidemiology professor at Queen’s University Belfast who has studied early onset cancer in Northern Ireland, told AFP there were two potential explanations.

One is that people in their 40s were exposed to factors known to cause cancer — such tobacco smoke, alcohol or being obese — at an earlier age than previous generations.

She pointed out that the “obesity epidemic” did not start until the 1980s.

Sivakumar felt that at least part of the puzzle could be explained by obesity.

However, there is “another wave” of under-50 patients who are neither obese nor genetically predisposed still getting cancer, he emphasised, adding that this could not be put down to “statistical chance”.

The other theory, Coleman said, is that “something different” has been going on with her generation.

Fingers have been pointed out a range of possible culprits — including chemicals, new drugs and microplastics — but none have been proven.

Some have suggested that so-called ultra-processed foods could be to blame. “But there’s very little data to back any of that up,” Coleman said.

Another theory is that the food we eat could be changing our gut microbiome.

While there is nothing conclusive yet, Coleman said her own research suggested that cancer causes changes to the microbiome, not the other way around.

Anti-vaxx conspiracy theorists have even tried to blame Covid-19 vaccines.

This is easily disproven, because the rise in young adult cancer has taken place over decades, but the vaccines have only been around for a few years.

What can be done?

To address the rise in younger colorectal cancer, in 2021 the US lowered the recommended age for screening to 45. Other countries have yet to follow suit.

But the researchers hoped that Catherine’s experience would remind people at home that they should consult their doctor if they sense anything is wrong.

“People know their bodies really well,” Sivakumar said.

window._rrCode = window._rrCode || [];_rrCode.push(function(){ (function(d,t) var s=d.createElement(t); var s1=d.createElement(t); if (d.getElementById(‘jsw-init’)) return; s.setAttribute(‘id’,’jsw-init’); s.setAttribute(‘src’,’https://www.jiosaavn.com/embed/_s/embed.js?ver=’+Date.now()); s.onload=function()document.getElementById(‘jads’).style.display=’block’;s1.appendChild(d.createTextNode(‘JioSaavnEmbedWidget.init(a:”1″, q:”1″, embed_src:”https://www.jiosaavn.com/embed/playlist/85481065″,”dfp_medium” : “1”,partner_id: “ndtv”);’));d.body.appendChild(s1);; if (document.readyState === ‘complete’) d.body.appendChild(s); else if (document.readyState === ‘loading’) var interval = setInterval(function() if(document.readyState === ‘complete’) d.body.appendChild(s); clearInterval(interval); , 100); else window.onload = function() d.body.appendChild(s); ; )(document,’script’); });

“If you really feel that something isn’t right, don’t delay — just get yourself checked out.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Almost 3,000 students suspended in Waterloo Region over immunization issues

Published

 on

Close to 3,000 children attending elementary school across Waterloo Region were suspended from school on Wednesday morning for not having up-to-date immunization records.

The region says Waterloo Public Health suspended 2,969 students under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA).

For several months, the region has been campaigning for people to get their children’s vaccinations up to date, including sending letters home to parents on a couple of occasions, warning that students’ records needed to be up to date or they would be suspended.

300x250x1

It announced in January that 32,000 students did not have up-to-date records: 22,000 elementary students and 10,000 high school students.


The latest health and medical news
emailed to you every Sunday.

“We have made remarkable progress from the original 27,567 immunization notices we sent to parents in November and December 2023,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated.

“Since that time, we have resolved more than 24,500 outdated vaccination records, providing students with valuable protection against these serious and preventable diseases.”

The high school students still have a few weeks to get their records up to date or else face suspension.

The ISPA requires students to have proof-of-vaccination records for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox) and meningitis, which must be on file with public health.

Public health says caregivers whose children are suspended will need to book an appointment at regionofwaterloo.ca/vaccines for clinics, which will be held in Cambridge and Waterloo on weekdays.

“Given the high number of suspensions, it may take several days before you can be seen at an appointment and return your child to school,” a release from the region warns.

“Record submission and questions must be done in person to ensure immediate resolution.”

The last time suspensions over immunizations were issued was in 2019, when 1,032 students were suspended.

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending