Is Your Phone Putting You at Risk?
New Research LInks Cell Phone Use to Higher Breast Cancer Risk
This was a case-control study comprising 894 healthy controls and 211 patients with breast cancer. All participants were asked to respond to standard questionnaires to collect information on sleep quality, smartphone addiction, and smartphone use.
Results
Participants with smartphone addiction had a significantly higher 1.43-fold risk of breast cancer. Individuals with the habitual behavior of smartphone use >4.5 minutes before bedtime had a significantly increased 5.27-fold risk of breast cancer compared to those who used a smartphone for ≤4.5 minutes before bedtime. Additionally, a closer distance between the smartphone and the breasts when using the smartphone exhibited a significantly increased 1.59-fold risk. Participants who carried their smartphone near their chest or waist-abdomen area had significantly increased 5.03-fold and 4.06-fold risks of breast cancer, respectively, compared to those who carried the smartphone below the waist. Moreover, there was a synergistic effect of smartphone addiction and smartphone use of >4.5 minutes before bedtime which increased the breast cancer risk.
Conclusion
Excessive smartphone use significantly increased the risk of breast cancer, particularly for participants with smartphone addiction, a close distance between the breasts and smartphone, and the habit of smartphone use before bedtime.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7605549/
Some actionable takeaways:
- Keep your phone away from your chest (put it in a purse or a sleeve that blocks radiation
- Don't Doom scroll at night, get a traditional alarm clock, read a book and reduce stimulation.
- Reduce daily screen time especially on your smartphone. Perhaps move some work/reading to the desktop if you have to.
- Limit social media - even as adults we get addicted to the endless stream of content.
- Children also have more fragile body, take age relevant precautions.