How computers affect our health

Can you remember the last day when you haven’t used your computer? Or the last week when you didn’t touch the keyboard? I’m pretty sure you can’t, as computers entered our lives fast and we are now used to use them every day.

All this sounds ok, but I’m guessing you don’t know what health problems we are exposed to if we use computers too much. A few weeks ago I’ve came across a short list of health problems caused by a geek lifestyle, but I didn’t had time to tell you about them, till today.

So, let’s take them one by one:

• Sleep disorders – insomnia or often awakening during the nights. Cause is frequent use on PC or laptop right after you wake up. Resolution is pretty simple, don’t lay in bad working, just do something that doesn’t stimulate your brain too much.
• Headaches – often caused by improper environment surrounding computer use. Check your screen position, room lighting, chair, glasses.
• Back pain – caused by improper chair sitting position and prolonged absence of back muscles exercises
• Poor attention span – that’s very interesting. We are used to do multitasking, working with different programs at the same time and being concentrated on several points on the screen, when feedback is expected. When we are facing only one task, we get bored faster, we can’t concentrate enough on the singular task. Meetings, when you have to be focus on the discussion is a killer. There isn’t too much you can do to correct this, as your brain takes longer to learn another work pattern.

As you can see, I’ve said “we” several times, as I consider myself an intensive computer user, with more than 10 hours a day of online time. Maybe future will solve those kind of health problems, but I’m not counting on it. I’m now trying to figure out a lifestyle that gets me enough time with my beloved computers without putting my life in danger. What do you think? Do you manage to escape the terrible force of online existence?

Update: if you’re interested in health issues related to computer use you can check this book about How to Be Pain Free and Relieve the Symptoms of Computer Stress Syndrome.