{"id":5569,"date":"2017-09-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herheart.org\/2017\/09\/05\/health-benefits-unplugging\/"},"modified":"2017-09-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-04T14:00:00","slug":"health-benefits-unplugging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/area54.thedct.net\/herheart\/health-benefits-unplugging\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Health Benefits of Unplugging?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

By\u00a0John Swartzberg, M.D.<\/em><\/p>\n

Did you make any New Year\u2019s resolutions? Perhaps you resolved to get serious about exercising, or cut down on sugar, or quit smoking. Or maybe you decided to cut down on something else: time connected to your digital devices. More and more people\u2019s lists of good intentions for the coming year include\u00a0a pledge to shut off the phone<\/a>\u00a0and live more in the moment.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve even seen some articles that suggest that sticking to some sort of \u201cdigital diet\u201d can be good for your health\u2014but that\u2019s not a train of thought I can jump on yet. I absolutely think that disconnecting from our perpetual tether to iPhones and laptops can do all kinds of great things for our real-world connections with families and friends\u2014or maybe just for our ability to sit down and relax with an actual book for a change. But are there legitimate, proven\u00a0health<\/em>\u00a0benefits to unplugging? At this point, that\u2019s hard to say.<\/p>\n

So far, there\u2019s not much strong science suggesting a direct connection between taking regular breaks from digital devices and your health. Investigation of this issue is still in its nascent stage.<\/p>\n

There have, of course, been multiple studies suggesting that over-involvement with our digital devices can create or exacerbate problems.<\/p>\n