The average person now spends four hours a day looking at their phone. As a result, a multitude of new health issues has been reported by experts including ‘Instagram hand’, a disorder caused by serial scrolling through all the ‘noise’ on the popular social platform. We asked our in-house health and wellbeing expert, Holly Myers, for her advice when it comes to avoiding technology related complications.

Tackle Tech Neck

With so much time spent looking at our phones, most of us are guilty of tilting our heads downwards while hunching our back for long periods. This can cause headaches, stiffness and misalignment.

Expert advice: Rather than gazing down at your phone, bring it to eye level to reduce muscle strain. Make a pact with friends and colleagues to remind each other to do this as it’s a tough habit to break, but totally worth it!

Ask The Experts

So many factors affect our posture at work, particularly chair height and computer position. Look around your office and you’ll probably notice most people are exhibiting poor posture which could cause both short and long term issues.

Expert advice: Call in an expert to help adapt each employee’s work station. This will greatly reduce the risk of technology-related ailments and limit the fatigue caused by poor posture. A correctly optimised workstation with height adjustable desks and ergonomic chairs, like the Sayl chair by Herman Miller available at Fetcham Park, have huge physical benefits and are also thought to increase efficiency. 

Say Goodbye To RSI

We tend to think of repetitive strain injury (RSI) as a problem caused by typing all day long, but experts are now warning that our addiction to using our phones to scroll through Instagram and other social media feeds is a key culprit.

Expert advice: Scrolling repeatedly is bad news for muscles and tendons as it places too much strain on the same area over and over again. Swap hands, fingers and thumbs frequently to share the load and massage painful areas to provide some relief. Or mute accounts to avoid being inundated with adverts. As explained below, it’s also vital to implement tech-free time each day.

Nomophobia No More

You may not have heard the term before, but ‘nomophobia’ is the fear of being without a mobile phone. After all, we don’t just rely on our mobiles to keep in touch with people, they are now also home to our clocks, calculators and notes.

Expert advice: When you don’t need to be in contact with others, leave your phone in a different room so you won’t be tempted to give in to nomophobia. Use night mode in the evening to reduce eye strain and try to make your bedroom a tech-free zone for better sleep so you wake up feeling refreshed. 

Health & Wellbeing at Fetcham Park

We believe workplace wellbeing should be a key consideration for every business, which is why we invite on-site health and wellbeing experts, Holly (pictured) and Peter from The Health Quest, to offer a range of services for office occupiers from personal training and sports massage therapy, relaxation and Swedish Massage and rehabilitation to golf performance training and postural fitness, there are lots of ways for them to enhance their fitness and wellbeing on-site.

Fetcham Park combines a modern approach to workspaces with restful surroundings including nearly six acres of grounds. Tucked away in Surrey, removed from the distractions and noise of the city, it’s less than an hour from London and close to the M25 so there’s no need to commute if you don’t have to.

To get in touch email hello@fetchampark.co.uk or call 01372 371000.