Is Your Smartphone Making You Fat? Yes, If You Spend More Than 5 Hours On It Daily

Weight loss is that one thing that almost the entire world commits to at the beginning of the year, and also breaks that commitment in record time.

Whether it is gymming, CrossFit or Keto diets, there are so many ways we try to get a slimmer waist, it's not even funny anymore.

However, what if I told you that one of the main causes you're out of shape isn't down to what you eat, but also because of your phone?

Reuters

According to a recent study by the American College of Cardiology, five or more hours of usage every day aids in increasing obesity. Researchers analyzed a total of 1,060 students from June 2018 to December 2018. The study group consisted of 700 women and 360 men, aged 19 and 20 years old on average, respectively.

The study revealed that men were 36.1 percent likely to be overweight and 42.6 percent likely to be obese. Similarly, women were 63.9 percent likely to be overweight and 57.4 percent likely to be obese.

Moreover, the results also revealed that 26 percent of the subjects who were overweight and 4.6 percent who were obese usually spent more than five hours on their phone. This resulted them to have lifestyle habits that spiked the risks of cardiovascular disease, like eating fast food, consuming sugar-loaded drinks, along with a considerable decrease in physical activity.

Reuters

"The results of this study allow us to highlight one of the main causes of physical obesity, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease," said Mantilla-Morr¨®n, a cardiac pulmonary and vascular rehabilitation specialist at the Health Sciences Faculty at the Sim¨®n Bol¨ªvar University in Barranquilla, Colombia, who's also the lead author of the study.

"We have also determined that the amount of time in which a person is exposed to the use of technologies - specifically prolonged cell phone use - is associated with the development of obesity."

Tips to lose weight

So if you're trying to lose weight and want to eat more responsibly, next time you decide to spend your day browsing the web or watching something on the phone, keep a track of the time spent. Snack on something healthy if you're really hungry, like a salad or fruit.

You can additionally use apps that limit your phone screen time and notify you when you're using too much of a certain app. These small tweaks should help you lose weight efficiently and responsibly.