Do You Have a Text Neck?

According to   Dr. Dean Fishman, Text neck is the term used to describe the neck pain and damage sustained from looking down at your cell phone, tablet, or other wireless devices too frequently and for too long.  Symptoms of the ravaging disorder includes tension and chronic headaches, upper back pain ranging from a chronic, nagging pain to sharp, severe upper back muscle spasms. Shoulder pain and tightness, possibly resulting in painful shoulder muscle spasm.

As the world become more global and technology becomes more ’techy’, Texting has become the dominant form of communication. Our virtual presence is growing stronger hence we spend even more time looking down at our mobile devices, communicating and socializing. Beyond the use of our cell phones, countless hours are spent daily hunched over numerous types of handheld devices Tablets, PDA, MP3, game consoles, e-readers, media players, digital camera and video recorders, etc.

More people now suffer or risk having text neck. It’s no wonder that I often spend more time on the neck, shoulder and back during my massage sessions.  Even though most clients book a full body massage, there is usually a dedicated focus on the neck, shoulder and back as these are they heavily tensed areas for busy professionals and entrepreneurs.  Enquires from most clients during these massage sessions indicates that tension builds around these areas as a result of poor sitting, texting and typing postures. Our regular furniture also play a role a critical role on the health of our neck, shoulders and back. We shall review our furniture in a future blog post.

I will like to address our sitting, texting and typing postures in this post and subsequent post. Please see the images below to review your postures.

 

Sitting Posture

 

Photo Credit – Posturerite.co.uk

If you often use a computer, you can avoid injury by sitting in the right position

Support your back

Avoid back pain by ensuring that your lower back is properly supported.Your knees should be slightly lower than your hips.

Rest your feet on floor

Your feet should be flat on the floor. If your feet hang your calves can become stiff and build tension.

Place your screen at eye level

Your screen should be directly in front of you. A good guide is to place the monitor about an arm’s length away, with the top of the screen roughly at eye level.

Using the keyboard

Place your keyboard in front of you when typing. Leave a gap of about four to six inches (100mm-150mm) at the front of the desk, to rest your wrists between bouts of typing. Your wrists should be straight when using a keyboard. Keep your elbows vertical under your shoulder and right by your side.

 

 

Texting

 

It will be a great idea to review your posture and make the necessary adjustments where possible. please be conscious of your posture.

Beautifully yours,

Tega

The Stress Index

The Stress Index

According to Ingrid Wood, the author of the Good Skin. Short term stress is beneficial in that it prepares the body for an emergency. However, in the long –term, your body, skin and health start to suffer. Cortisol (the stress hormone unlike other hormones does not decrease with age. In a young, healthy body. Cortisol levels increase in the morning and drop at night. If you are under prolonged stress, cortisol is continually secreted into the blood streams. A younger person is more able to move from a stressed state to a relaxed one whereas as one ages it becomes more difficult. 

When the body makes cortisol for too long, it is a major contributor to skin ageing, weakening of the immune system and increasing blood sugar levels. Cortisol levels need to be kept in check in order to protect the body from the effects of stress.

Here some ways to keep our cortisol level in check

Eat a diet high  in raw and fresh fruits and vegetables – citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruit, limes, lemons) apples, pears, grapes etc. they help to detox the body, balance hormones and increase levels of              potassium – which is essential for beautiful skin. Eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day.

Get enough exercise

Spa treatments like a regular massage and steam session also help to keep our stress levels in check.