Doctor issues disturbing warning over three phone habits most people do that are 'killing our brains'
These days, we have the power to do just about anything through our smartphones.
Shopping, working, scrolling social media, watching videos, listening to music and even analysing health data - you name it, your phone can probably do it.
Because of this, we spend *a lot* of time on our devices, and although most of us know it's probably better to step away from the screen, it can be tricky.
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Speaking about this, one doctor has revealed some insight into how our behaviour can impact our mental health.
In fact, she revealed the kind of stuff we should avoid, and which phone activity can cause us the most stress and anxiety.
Speaking to Steven Bartlett on an episode of his Diary of a CEO podcast, Dr Aditi Nerurkar explained that if you want to be filled with stress and anxiety, you should: "Get on your phone, make sure it's on high brightness and scroll through every social media platform, every news platform, watch graphic content, videos of horrible things happening in the world at midnight.
"And keep doing that off and on until 4 or 5 am."
She also revealed the three things that are negatively impacting our day-to-day lives, and how we can curb the habit.
The first, unsurprisingly, is scrolling late at night.
According to Dr Nerurkar, scrolling comes from the 'primal urge' to scan for danger.
"In recent times there's been a lot of bad news in fact it feels like the onslaught of bad news one thing after another, whether it's a climate disaster or a conflict in a certain part of the world or something or the other is always happening now," she said.
"The information stream is rapid and unprecedented, and so we are constantly scrolling and scanning for danger."
Instead, the doc recommends choosing a different pastime to relax you before bed.
Dr Nerurkar also points to constantly checking our phones as having a negative effect on our health.
Many of us habitually check our devices, even when we've not been alerted, which can lead to something called 'mobile phone dependency'.
In fact, Dr Nerurkar says 62 percent of us check our phones within 15 minutes of waking up and half of us check them in the middle of the night.
It's hard to ignore distressing content on social media, especially when there's so many upsetting videos out there.
But Dr Nerurkar explains that this kind of content can lead trigger the fight or flight response.
"Graphic images and videos on your phone can increase your risk of PTSD and mental health conditions, as it triggers the fight or flight response and can lead to indirect trauma," she said.
"Studies that your risk of PTSD increases when you consume graphic images, even if that thing that you're consuming is happening thousands of miles away, like any conflict, any climate disaster, anything."
To combat these issues, Dr Nerurkar recommends limiting phone usage to just 20 minutes per day.
Topics: Health, Technology, Phones
Lucy Devine