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5 Healthy Tech Habits to Implement in Your Daily Life

There’s no denying that technology is now a central part of modern life. Therefore, a healthy relationship with

There’s no denying that technology is now a central part of modern life. Therefore, a healthy relationship with technology is just as important to our wellbeing as diet and exercise. We’ve created a list of the top five healthy tech habits you should implement in your daily life to ensure that you maintain a positive relationship with your devices.

1) Don’t Check Your Phone First Thing

For many of us, the first thing we do every morning is roll over and grab our smartphone. However, this is definitely not the healthiest way to start the day.

Waking up to a barrage of texts and emails is likely to increase your stress levels and even compromise your ability to effectively prioritise tasks. It’s far better to wake up properly, have breakfast and take a shower before you check your phone. This starts the day off on a calmer note and allows your brain to become fully alert before you try to deal with all of those messages and updates.

Of course, most of us use our smartphones as alarm clocks, which makes it even more difficult to refrain from an early morning scroll. Consider either buying a separate alarm clock or leaving your phone on airplane mode at night, so that you don’t wake up to any notifications.

2) Put Your Phone Down an Hour Before Bed

It’s also a good idea to eliminate scrolling from your nighttime routine, too. There’s a wealth of evidence to suggest that smartphones damage your quality of sleep. This is because blue light suppresses melatonin production in the brain, thereby disrupting your circadian rhythm. As a result, it becomes more difficult to fall asleep and the quality of your shut-eye also suffers.

This isn’t the only problem with bedtime scrolling. Once you start, it can be very difficult to stop. We’re all guilty of logging onto social media for “just five minutes” and then spending an hour or more online.

To combat this, put your phone down at least an hour before bed. Ideally, your device should be on charge in a separate room so that you’re not tempted to check it. It’s a good idea to enable airplane mode, too, so that you don’t receive any notifications. This will make it far easier to wind down and switch off, meaning better sleep and more energy the next day.

3) Track Your Steps

By now, you’ve probably heard that we should all be walking 10,000 steps per day. However, this is unrealistic for many of us, particularly those with office jobs. The good news is that research by Harvard Medical School found that walking just 4,400 steps per day was enough to significantly lower risks.

Taking more steps each day can lower your risk of heart disease and make it easier to manage your weight. If you’re currently sedentary, the Mayo Clinic recommends raising your target step count by 1000 each week until you reach your desired number of daily steps.

Fitness trackers like FitBit and Apple watches are certainly a popular way to track your steps, but you could just as easily use your smartphone for this by keeping it in your pocket throughout the day.

4) Take an Hourly Screen Break

When you spend most of your working day staring at a screen, attempting to cut down on screen time may seem like an unrealistic goal. However, simply taking an hourly screen break can help to improve your posture and reduce the risk of eye strain. Set an alarm to go off at hourly intervals to remind you to get up, stretch and walk around for a few minutes. Better yet, step outside for a breath of fresh air if the weather’s good!

5) Clean Out Your Inbox Regularly

Let’s face it, no-one really enjoys managing their inbox – it’s simply a necessary evil of modern working life. However, decluttering your inbox and deleting old or irrelevant emails is actually a great way to reduce stress and become more focused and productive. It can feel overwhelming to log into your email and see hundreds of unread messages, so make a habit of spending a few minutes going through and cleaning out your inbox each day.

Of course, our Spam Filtering Service can also help with that while reducing the overwhelm and stress that can come with malicious emails!

Here at Aspect IT, we’re here to help you with all your IT needs. Get in touch with us to find out more about our professional, affordable and flexible IT support and consultancy services by clicking here.

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