7 Modern-Day Health Woes

How to avoid twenty-first century health problems? From tablet neck to ear bud-related hearing loss.

There was a time, not too long ago, when a phone was just a phone, sky-high heels weren't sold in every mall, and you had to catch your favorite TV show when it actually aired. There's no going back—and who wants to?—but our contemporary world is bringing its share of health hazards that were once either rare or unheard-of. Check out where our text-happy, music-obsessed, stiletto-loving lives can lead—and what you can do to make these new risks a thing of the past.

Orthorexia Nervosa:

Orthorexia nervosa is a term to describe people who have developed a fixation with healthy eating. In rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death. Even in less severe cases, the attempt to follow a diet that cannot provide adequate nourishment is said to lower self-esteem as the orthorexics blame themselves rather than their diets for their constant hunger and the resulting cravings for forbidden foods.

Among the signs of orthorexia nervosa are: spending more than 3 hours a day thinking about healthful food; planning meals days in advance; feeling virtuous from following a strict healthful diet, but not enjoying eating; feeling socially isolated (such strict diets make it hard to eat anywhere but at home); and feeling highly critical of those who do not follow a similar diet. Although the psychiatric community does not officially recognize orthorexia nervosa as a disorder, those with the condition benefit from psychological treatment and sessions with eating-disorder specialists.

Social Anxiety Disorder:

Social Anxiety Disorder or social phobia is a persistent and irrational fear of situations that may involve scrutiny or judgment by others, such as parties and other social events.

People with social anxiety disorder have an “intense, persistent, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and of doing things that will embarrass them,” and that fear can be so intense that it interferes with work, school, and other ordinary activities and can make it hard to make and keep friends. But the condition has physical manifestations, too, including trembling, upset stomach, heart palpitations, confusion, and diarrhea. The cause hasn’t been nailed down, but social anxiety disorder is probably due to a combination of environmental and hereditary factors.

Tablet neck and BlackBerry thumb:

We've all been there: unable to stand in line or wait for a movie to start without checking our phone as impatiently as if we had a loved one in the ER. Click away, but know that all that hunching over and tapping on handheld devices, like tablets and smartphones, is leading to more—and younger—patients with arthritis and tendinitis in the elbows, neck and thumbs. In a study 84 percent of mobile-phone users reported having pain in at least one body part, most often the base of the right thumb. "Even light pressure can be magnified 5 or 10 times at the base of the thumb joint," causing strain. So-called BlackBerry thumb could eventually require surgery.

That doesn't mean you have to give up Instagramming, but do take some simple precautions while you type. First, hold up your phone to about chest-high when you're looking at the screen—another study shows that as many as 91 percent of us may be staring down at navel level, straining the backs of our necks. If you have a tablet, use a stand instead of placing it flat on a table or holding it up; both positions can curve your shoulders painfully. Get up and stretch periodically while using phones and tablets, and try not to slam your fingers down on the screen or keyboard. Finally, consider making calls (remember those?) instead of so many texts and e-mails.

Earbud-induced hearing loss:

Once limited mostly to construction workers and the elderly, noise-related hearing loss is now a concern for regular folks of all ages. “Moreover, this hearing loss and related problems—like tinnitus, or buzzing and ringing in the ears—are occurring earlier, and showing up more profoundly once they set in.

No wonder: Unlike the bulky Walkman headphones of decades past, earbuds pipe high-volume, high-fidelity sound right through your eardrum, and their tiny size—not to mention the ubiquity of portable listening and viewing devices, like your Kindle Fire or iPod—makes it convenient for you to listen to tunes and watch TV shows and movies anywhere, anytime. Long or repeated exposure to sound over 85 decibels can damage your hearing; an MP3 player at full volume is around 105 decibels—louder than a power drill or a passing motorcycle.

The solution, naturally, is to turn down the volume, and limit the amount of time you have those wires sprouting from your ears. Try following the 60/60 rule: listening to music through your earbuds for no more than 60 minutes a day, using 60 percent of the maximum volume. Better yet, spring for noise-canceling or noise-isolating buds—or best of all, sport old-school headphones. They're generally safer, as long as you're not walking around in traffic with them on!

Screen-related sleep disorder:

Raise your hand if you sleep curled up with your iPhone, or stay up too late to watch your favorite television shows in real time . Beware: More and more research suggests that blue light from a light-emitting diode (LED) screen—the type of screen on most computers, phones, TVs and other devices these days—can inhibit the production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and disrupt our circadian rhythms. Researchers think this is because LED-generated blue light emits wavelengths very similar to daylight, so it can make our bodies think it's daytime, all the time.

In a 2011 study, participants who viewed an LED screen at bedtime had melatonin levels that took longer to rise and remained lower during the night than when they looked at old-fashioned fluorescent monitors. This doesn't give fluorescent lighting a pass: Other research has found that energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs—which release blue light—suppress melatonin more than traditional incandescents (which emit a red-orange glow that's less similar to daylight) and can keep people awake longer.
No, you're not going back to a dumb phone or a computer from 1993, but you can turn down your screen brightness at night, or install the flux app, which automatically adjusts the light your computer emits depending on the time of day and where you are. Better yet, do some reading under an incandescent light when you're winding down at night.

Stiletto strain:

High heels have been fashionable for—what?—centuries; the stiletto debuted back in the 1950s.

Podiatrists have been watching this trend with some alarm. "The higher you go, the more changes in your gait pattern and the more stress on your feet, knees and back," "Potential problems are going to be greater." In fact, she prefers patients to wear shoes with heels under 2.5 inches. Researchers Found that very high heels (we're talking over 3.5 inches here) were significantly more likely to lead to foot pain, ankle stress and an increased risk of sprain than half-inch heels. Another study found that super high stiletto heels were more likely than medium heels to cause varicose veins, which can lead to fatigue and pain. And in 2011 a study found that the higher the heel, the greater the stress on the knees and the risk of osteoarthritis.

Don't kid yourself that wedges or platforms are a safer bet. They may place your foot at a less-severe angle, but your staccato walk is still putting an unnatural burden of weight on the small, delicate bones of the feet and toes. Her advice: If you must wear towering heels, give your feet a rest and go low the next day.

Offbeat biorhythms:

We live in a world where the gym never closes—and neither does the drive-through, for that matter. Our 24/7 lifestyle can have potential health consequences that researchers are only beginning to understand. For example, staying up late may predispose us to digest food differently, possibly contributing to obesity. In one study, mice exposed to dim light at night gained 50 percent more weight than mice kept in a natural-light-cycle environment—even though both consumed the same number of calories and had similar activity levels.

Studies also find that folks whose routines are not in sync with regular circadian rhythms—like people who work at night and sleep during the day—might be more vulnerable to heart disease, depression, diabetes and cancer. "We evolved under cycles of light and dark, Modern lighting has turned that on its head."

So if you're up late—or wake in the middle of the night—keep lights and activity as low as possible to stay in tune with your body clock. And remember: "It's not a time to snack."