Too Much Screen Time
We are all obsessed with our phones. Nobody needs to debate this, because this is a bad habit that we share universally in the modern age. Most of us spend hours upon hours browsing through Netflix, obsessing over social media, playing video games, or simply wasting most of our time in front of a screen.
These habits are not only horrible for health, but also for our overall life experiences as human beings. Human beings are social creatures by nature, however, with the rise of technology we are more isolated than ever. People today spend most of their time on their social media, connecting on different platforms instead of connecting face-to-face.
Let’s not even talk about the damages we are doing to our eyes, our sleep cycle, our mental functions (such as memory and concentration), and other physical health risks that we put ourselves in by spending hours in front of a screen every day. Too much screen time has become a societal norm, but it is ruining our health as well as our quality of life. The fear here is that a lot of young people, who are full of potential, are addicted to their screens.
Imagine all the time you spend in front of a screen. Now imagine what you could’ve achieved by doing something productive instead of binge-watching the show you have already seen three times. If you really want to impress your potential employers, make your résumé stand out for future employment, get off your screen and do something productive.
Not Enough Sleep
Who here gets a full eight hours of sleep every single night? How many was that? Two, maybe three of you? That’s right, today, the majority of our population (especially our youth) does not get enough sleep at night. This is due to numerous factors such as an excess of stress and anxiety, interrupted sleep cycle due to screen time, not being able to channel all of our energy as most of us don’t have a consistent fitness routine either, and other factors such as disorders.
Not sleeping enough is a horrible habit as it is the one thing that is most important to our overall health and body rejuvenation. Without sleep, we as human beings cannot function properly, our mental functions such as memory, concentration, and productivity can critically decline as a result of a lack of sleep.
Those of us who don’t get enough sleep at night can understand the incredibly low energy our bodies have throughout the day. The headaches, blurry vision, dizziness, nausea, and other aches and pains throughout our bodies are just the most common, baseline symptoms of sleep deprivation. Simply sleeping for eight hours a night will give you a list of career strengths by eliminating aches and pains and boosting productivity and concentration. You can check lensa.com for more useful information.
Certain ways to improve the amount of sleep that we get a night is by exercising during the day, making ourselves physically tired, and craving sleep. Reading before bed, tiring out our eyes and brainpower, needing sleep to restore them. Not using any technology at least an hour before bedtime, giving our eyes a rest, and letting our natural sleep cycle work uninterrupted.
All of these techniques can help restore the natural balance of sleep in your system, and if there is one bad habit that we really need to get rid of, it’s this one.
A Sedentary Lifestyle
Today, most of us have desk jobs. Day in and day out we sit in front of our computers and type away to make a living. The only time we stand up is when we walk to the bathroom or to get food. We spend most of our days sitting. This is a horrible habit that a large number of us unfortunately have. By sitting all day we are decreasing flexibility, mobility, muscle strength, our immune system, blood flow, and many other crucial functions that keep us alive.
In today’s world, we barely use our legs, we drive everywhere and we sit all day, then we go to sleep at night and do it all over again the next day. This behavior is incredibly toxic and dangerous to our bodies. Obesity rates are skyrocketing, physical activity is declining, and we are slowly wasting away. Sitting for long periods of time slows the metabolism, which affects the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and break down body fat.
Sitting for long periods can also lead to weakening and wasting away of the leg and gluteal muscles. These large muscles are important for walking and for stabilizing you. As these muscles weaken due to infrequent use, you are more likely to injure yourself from falls, and strains when you do any form of exercise.
We should all be on high alert to avoid the sedentary lifestyle because it is a very common, very bad habit. Many adults in the UK alone spend around 9 hours a day sitting. These 9 hours include watching TV, using a computer, reading, doing homework, traveling by car, bus or train. It does not include the other hours we spend laying while we are sleeping.
Studies have even shown that if you stand or move around during the day, you have a lower risk of early death than if you sit at a desk. If you live a sedentary lifestyle, you have a higher chance of being overweight, developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, and developing depression and anxiety.
Not Drinking Enough Water
A lot of us walk around every day without even knowing that we are dehydrated. It is recommended that a healthy adult should be drinking around eight glasses of water a day, this number increases if you exercise during the day. Our generation today prefers drinking soda, energy drinks, coffee, sugary juices, or alcohol. Anything but water. It seems as though we fail to remember that water is one of the main reasons we are alive.
If this planet didn’t have water, it would be uninhabitable. Our bodies are made up of 60% of water. Human beings can only go three days without drinking water. These little facts are technical ones that everybody knows about, so why is it that when it comes to drinking water, people find a way to drink anything but that.
We have all these other fancy alternatives such as sodas, juices, or flavored waters, but those are chock-full of sugar and preservatives, things that are horrible for our health. Without water, our metabolism doesn’t work, our organs begin shutting down, we would have constant migraines, our blood flow wouldn’t be regulated properly, we wouldn’t be able to concentrate or see straight, and we would all have horrible skin.
Our bodies need water, no living thing can live without it. By not giving our bodies enough water, people today have increased headaches, body pains, issues with basic mental functions such as concentration, and issues with their metabolism. If we want to stay happy and healthy, we need to put down all of our sugary or caffeinated alternatives and invest in a water bottle.