All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Technology is creating something new every day to make our lives easier. Enhancements are being introduced in mobile phones, computers, mobile apps, TVs etc. day by day leading to largescale modifications in our lifestyles. Our work efficiency has been enhanced significantly due to these and what took hours earlier can be finished in minutes now. All the information we seek is available instantly in this era of information revolution. A tiny cell phone has moved on from being just a means of communication and become a repository of music, photos, videos and information. From payment to online shopping and ticket booking, everything can be done with the mobile phone. Slowly and steadily mobile phones are getting associated with a number of conveniences.These are only the useful and beneficial aspects of technology, but we must also have knowledge of the potentially harmful aspects of technology.

Today’s generation is rightly called ‘multimedia generation’ because everyone yearns to get some form of gadget or the other. People spend many-many hours with gadgets like iPods, mobile phones, TVs, video games and so on. Excessive time spent on these is resulting in many negative effects on the body like dry eyes, computer vision syndrome, back ache, neck pain etc. Gadgets have today become part of our lives but slowly they are adversely affecting our health. Young generation is extremely enamored with these devices and do not like to be away from them even for a few moments. At each street corner several people can be found busy with their gadgets in their free time talking with others on mobile, playing games, surfing the internet, taking pictures, shooting videos or listening to music.

Music fanatics with their head phones or ear phones on their ears can be found everywhere. Even auto rickshaw drivers can be commonly spotted sporting ear phones and listening to music. Such people are often unaware of the health hazards these gadgets pose to them, how their ear phones can impair their hearing; and in addition, how their lack of attention can increase manifold the possibility of road accidents.

World Health Organization has, in a report, warned the young generation to desist from the excessive usage of Bluetooth, earphones and head phones. According to the report, about 1.1 billion youth are becoming deaf due to their habit of listening to loud music. So, it is necessary to take precaution and reduce the usage of earphones as much as possible. People employed at call centers or any places where head set is a necessity must definitely take a break of 5 minutes after every hour of usage. Only good quality head phones and ear phones should be used. It is preferable to use head phones, which are attached to outer ears, instead of ear buds.

According to a research, listening capacity of people who continuously use ear phones reduces by 40-50 decibels. Due to the reduced sensitivity it becomes difficult to hear voices that come from far. In fact, this can also cause complete deafness at times. In our country too 50% of ear related problems reported by youth are due to excessive usage of ear phones. Excessive usage of ear phones could result in several common problems like pain in ears, headache, insomnia etc.

To provide attractive gadgets, manufacturers of earphones and headphones produce contraptions that completely cancel every sound from outside so that the listener gets dissociated from outside world and can enjoy music without any disturbance. But when these devices completely enclose the ears and do not allow air circulation, the danger of infection increases significantly. People who use these devices for extended periods of time also become susceptible to uncomfortable conditions like tinnitus. Excessive usage also makes the ears vulnerable to becoming numb and insensitive.

The sound waves that are generated by earphone or headphone directly affect our brain. The inner portion of ear is connected to the brain and so if the ear or the ear drum is affected, there is a direct adverse impact on the brain as well. People who like to hear songs or music at high volume are found susceptible not only to brain related problems like headache, giddiness etc., but also could contract dangerous diseases like cancer and others related to heart. Besides the ear drums, loud sounds harm the inner tissues.

According to scientists, human ear can bear sound intensity upto 65 decibels, but if a sound of 90 decibel intensity is heard for 40 hours or more the nerves inside the ears die completely. Researchers state that excessive usage of earphones could result in numerous ear problems like hearing a continuous tingling sound, giddiness, sensitivity, sleeplessness, headache, earache and so on. As time passes, people begin to turn deaf to softer, lower intensity sounds and their ability to distinguish between sounds also gets impaired. This can cause serious problems while walking or driving and can lead to accidents.

Several incidents have come to light in which earphones have been the primary reason when people could not hear the voices coming from behind and met with serious accidents. Officers of Indian Railways also say that among people dying in accidents on railway tracks, majority is of those who walk on or near the tracks with earphones on. Psychologists describe people who walk with their Bluetooth, headphones and earphones on their ears as victims of mental instability and unintentional blindness. As their minds are distracted such people often meet with road accidents and among these, youth are the largest in numbers.

Several people fall asleep listening to songs on their earphones, which is even more harmful for the ears. It impedes falling into deep sleep and because of long exposure to radiation possibility of developing cancer increases significantly. Experts say we must not use these type of gadgets for more than 30 minutes and we should keep the volume low. Earphones should definitely be used for less than an hour in 24 hours and if any problem is noticed in the ear, doctor should be quickly consulted and doctor’s advice must be diligently followed. At the same time, we should not talk for too long on the phone.

Our ears are the only means through which we hear sounds, establish a communication with others and differentiate between sounds.If for any reason our hearing gets affected, the suffering would last a life time. So to protect our ears we must enforce a limit on the usage of different devices worn on the ears and we must use them really carefully.

Beware of Sitting for Long Hours

Goswami Tulsidasji, the author of Ramcharitmanas has extolled the virtue of human body thus – ‘Bade bhag manush tan pawa, surdurlabh sadgranthahin gawa.’ (Meaning - It is a great fortune to attain this human body which is rare even for the gods). The great poet Kalidas has also highlighted the importance of human body – ‘Sharir madhyam khalu dharmasadhanam’ (That is, physical body is the instrument for all righteous actions). It is needless to say that the first level of happiness is having a healthy body. This is so because all the pleasures of materialistic world can be enjoyed only through a healthy body. Whether we yearn for materialistic progress or spiritual upliftment, both necessarily require a healthy mind and body.

There are four objectives of human pursuit as described in the scriptures – dharma (righteousness and morality), arth (economic prosperity), kama (fulfillment of desires) and moksha (salvation). All these pursuits cannot be undertaken unless both mind and body are healthy. We should have no doubt that the fundamental basis of complete development is a healthy mind and body. There is no other living being whose body is better than human body provided it is not suffering from any diseases. But today, in the mechanical lifestyles we lead and the materialistic approach we have towards our lives, where is the time to take sufficient care of our mind and body? This is as if a warrior enters a battlefield without weapons with him. Life is no less than a battle and good health is an essential requirement to win it.

Undoubtedly, a balance between body and mind is required to attain good health. Any imbalance causes our body to fall prey to one disease or the other. There is nothing wrong in pursuing the materialistic progress. But if it is attained at the expense of our health, the progress would remain hollow. All the comforts of the world cannot give us happiness if our health is not good. We should keep a balance between work and rest. For example, lying around too long makes the body lazy and inactive. Standing unnecessarily for too long at work tires the body too. Likewise sitting for too long at work also causes many kinds of ailments. Unfortunately, in today’s world most of the jobs at workplaces are sedentary and this sitting for long hours affects our health quite adversely.

A big proportion of our working population spends the entire day in meetings, attending phone calls, sitting in front of computers or at their working desks. After reaching home also people keep talking on phone or laze around in front of TV. In our daily routine we spend eight hours sleeping, 2 hour standing or travelling from one place to another, about half an hour in exercise and remaining 13 hours working while seated. So majority of time during the day we spend sitting. Other than playful kids, laborers, manual workers and housewives, people who mostly do mental work spend a large amount of time sitting on chairs.

Journal of the American Heart Foundation has published a report based on a study conducted on a sample size of 8800 people. The report says that watching TV for more than 60 minutes not only increases significantly the risk of heart related problems and cancer, it is a major risk factor for untimely death. Several research studies have shown that sitting for a long time invites many ailments. Even people who exercise daily and sleep 8 hours must pay attention to the time they spend sitting. Sitting for long hours causes cholesterol levels to go up; and a high level of harmful LDL cholesterol is considered a major risk factor for stroke or paralysis. These days, people even at a young age are falling prey to many kinds of diseases because of their sedentary and inactive lifestyles. The rising number of people suffering from Type-2 diabetes is a burning example of this problem. Offices and homes these days are constructed with very few windows in order to make ACs more effective in maintaining comfortable temperatures. But children and youth living in such closed homes suffer from deficiency of Vitamin D due to which they feel fatigued and develop weakness in bones.

Sitting for a long time tires the muscles of the lower waist and gradually pain develops in the waist bone along with light swelling. This increases the vulnerability to slip disc. Many organs of the body get adversely affected with a sedentary lifestyle. For example, heart’s job is to circulate purified blood in the body. Sitting continuously reduces the flow of blood in the body. Due to this, accumulated fat begins to stick in the arteries. The same then increases the vulnerability to heart related problems. A research study has shown that men and women who sit for more than 10 hours become quite susceptible to heart diseases.

It is said that if a person has to sit for longer hours than usual even for a day, a direct impact is felt on his pancreas and they begin to produce more insulin. This increased level of insulin can increase the risk of contracting diabetes. Research has shown that compared to people who move around while working, those who have to sit for long hours are more liable to develop diabetes. In daily routine, if a person works for more than eight hours sitting, then his risk of developing Type 2 diabetes is 90% higher. Other similar research studies have found that sitting for long hours unnecessarily also increases the risk of developing colon, breast and endometrial cancer. There is no definite reason for this, but it could be that increased levels of insulin promote growth of cancer cells. Another possibility is that when body is continuously active it generates antioxidants in large numbers which help suppress growth of cancerous cells and when we sit for long or remain inactive these antioxidants are not produced in sufficient quantities.

Some more research studies have found that sitting for long hours increases the risk of cancer by 54%, and that of developing uterus cancer by 66% and intestinal cancer by 30%. According to a WHO report, in about one-third of the cases of breast and colon cancer, sitting for too long has been the dominating factor. It also affects brain’s efficiency which reduces significantly. Sitting too long reduces blood circulation, as a result of which the quantity of purified blood and oxygen to the brain reduces. This has a direct impact on a person’s state of mind and his level of concentration.

An important fact to know here is that if asanas of yoga are performed regularly then it is possible to protect ourselves from all these problems with ease. For example, sitting in vajrasan after meals for 5-10 minutes is very beneficial and supports digestion. It is also advised to take a stroll after meals. If we sit down after meals, the food tends to settle in stomach which reduces power of digestion. This can increase chances of flatulence, burning sensation and constipation.

Our wrong postures can also have severe effects on the body; for example, projecting forward our head and neck while working in the computer, or tilting our neck towards shoulder to hold the phone while talking can have serious repercussions on the body. People doing so often complain of strain in the neck and shoulders, and backache. More than standing, sitting down has more adverse effect on the backbone especially when we spend hours sitting in front of computers. When we walk, the discs inside the back bone continuously open and close. In active state there is a continuous flow of blood and nutrients inside the discs; and when we sit, the discs remain closed for a long time. This leads to a reduction in their flexibility which then creates pain. Sitting for long weakens the digestive system. Further, the hip muscles do not get enough activity which hardens them and then they begin to ache. Too much sitting reduces the blood circulation in the feet which can create problems like swelling in the feet, varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis (clotting of blood). It can even lead to osteoporosis. To make our bones become strong it is beneficial to walk, run and lift weights.

Some specialists opine that diseases increase in the body in the same proportion as number of hours spent sitting. In order to overcome the damage caused by sitting, subtle yogic exercises (sookshma vyayam) of the hands and legs, surya namaskar, pragya yog etc should be regularly practiced. These exercises increase vitality in body. Morning walk is also a nice, balanced exercise. Additionally, practice of Pranakarshan pranayam and nadi shodhan pranayam, can enhance pranic energy in the body and can ensure its proper circulation.

While working it is beneficial to take small breaks in between, walk a few steps, perform tadasan, and katichakrasan. If one likes dancing, then it is a good idea to dance to keep the body healthy. Soft, melodious music is a great stress buster. During working hours, it is beneficial to keep getting up and stretching in between. Bhramari pranayam is another great exercise that can instill freshness in the body.