How Using My Phone is Making My Skin Age Faster
Most of us are guilty of spending an excessive amount of time on our devices. With the addition of work-from-home becoming the norm, we are all more reliant on our phones and computers than ever before.
However, being glued to our phones, laptops and even televisions does come with a price – they all have a detrimental effect on the skin and can lead to premature signs of aging.
You may have heard of how harmful UV rays are for the skin. But do you also know that high-energy visible light, HEV or blue light as we know it, is equally detrimental for our skin?
Our phones, tablets, computers and televisions all produce Blue Light and as such, excessive usage of these devices has numerous harmful effects on our skin.
Below are some of the effects that Blue Light has on our skin:
1. Premature Wrinkles
Crow’s feet are becoming just as common around the eyes of twenty-year-olds as individuals in their forties. Constantly staring at various devices is one of the major causes of Crows feet for women of all age groups due to the excessive exposure of our eyes to Blue Light throughout the day. Squinting as well when looking at your screen can also lead to wrinkles around your eyes, along with vertical furrows between your eyebrows.
2. Mobile Phone Dermatitis
Research suggests that holding phones too close to our skin can lead to skin inflammation and Dermatitis. It can occur in various forms, including redness, swelling, itchiness near our ears, cheekbones, hands or jaws.
3. Acne and Pigmentation from Screen Time
Devices like our mobile phones tend to heat up with continuous use. When this happens, they tamper with your skin’s average melanin production. As a result of this, uneven tones and dark spots can develop on your skin.
It is also important to note that our phones can be germ-carriers too. We place our phones on tabletops, counters and numerous other surfaces where germs breed in large numbers. When we place our phones our ears, germs are transferred onto our skin, which can result in breakouts or pigmentation.
4. Dulling Complexion
Blue Light releases non-ionizing radiation, which can disrupt your bodies natural sleep cycle. Experts warn that this disruption to your sleep takes a heavy toll on your skin and hampers its regenerative abilities. Which in turn leads to skin growing dull and lacking its usual glow or suppleness.
Bonus: 4 Ways to Protect your Skin from Blue Light Damage
There are several things you could do to provide your skin with better protection against damage from Blue Light. We’ve compiled a short list below for you:
1. Maintain an Anti-Oxidant Rich Diet
It is important to ensure that your diet is rich in antioxidants, along with applying topical antioxidants as well to ensure that you are well protected from Free Radicals. Free Radicals are caused by Blue Light and UV Rays and are neutralized by Antioxidants, before they can cause serious damage to your body and skin.
Some of the foods that contain high levels of antioxidants are berries like strawberries and blue berries, or vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and carrots.
2.Use a Sunscreen
Sunscreen is not only great at protecting your skin from being damaged by sunlight, it also protects your skin from harmful Blue Light as well. It is important to use a sunscreen that is both a Physical and Chemical Sunscreen, as a Phyisical sunscreen is able to protect your skin against blue light, while a Chemical sunscreen offers your screen protection against damage from harmful UV Rays.
You may also want to look for a formulation like the Day Glower, which is both a Physical and Chemical Sunscreen that rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants can neutralize free radicals formed by Blue Light, before they can damage the skin and cause premature aging.
3. Limit Screen Time and Phone Usage
Reducing your exposure to your devices and their screens has been proven to have a positive impact on not only your complexion, but your overall health and wellbeing. You can start by reducing the amount of time you hold your phone to your ear when on a call – either by placing the call on speaker or using an earpiece instead.
Not only does this reduce the radiation exposed to your head, but it also reduces the occurrence of dark spots and minimize germs transfer.
4. Use a Screen Shield for Blue Light
Screen shields are easily available for a wide variety of devices. They are applied to cover the screen of your tablet, laptop and phone so that the rays are filtered and do not damage your skin.
Final Thoughts
Excessive screen time can take a massive toll on our health and cause lasting damage to our skin. So it is critical to understand the consequences of being too attached to our devices throughout the day and be proactive in protecting ourselves so that we can prevent our skin from aging faster.
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