The photo shows scary reality from smartphone addiction

Are you a smartphone addict? Maybe you need to think again when reading the following article.

The serious impact of smartphone addiction

Recently, James Carter, a leading Australian bone researcher, published photos of X-rays that could startle the "smartphone addicts" .

Specifically, these are pictures of spinal images of children and teenagers that have been severely deformed just because they cannot take their eyes off the phone screen.

The abnormally curved spine of a 16-year-old girl (left) and spinal deformed spine of a 17-year-old boy (right).

Dr. Carter warned that the "text neck" phenomenon - the result of looking down on the screen for too long is becoming a disease among young people.

He said: "This is an alarming phenomenon. According to my observation over the past few years, the number of patients with spinal deformity has increased dramatically, of which 50% are teenagers.

These people have the spine and vertebra of the neck bent back instead of the front like a normal person. When the spine deteriorates, they will have to suffer from head, neck, shoulder and back pain.

Normal spine shape: curved forward, soft vertebrae, the distance between the intervertebral discs is equal.

According to a doctor's study, smartphone users are spending at least 4 hours a day looking at the screen - that is, they spend 1,400 hours a year, leading to tremendous pressure on the neck vertebrae.

The pressure increases with the phone perspective.

Specifically, when we stand upright, the neck will be subjected to a pressure of about 5kg (12lb). However, when bent, depending on the angle, the neck pressure must be increased gradually, fluctuating in the range of 12.2 kg (27lb) when bent 15 degrees, to 27kg (60lb) when bent 60 degrees. With such tremendous pressure, long-term neck vertebrae will degenerate and deform, forming the "ancient message" phenomenon.

According to Dr. Carter, this distortion will take a lot of effort to correct, even need surgery in case of too severe.

However, for the mild case, he said the spine can move about 4cm after a period of time just by holding the head straight. In addition, he believes that the damage to the spine of adolescents can be minimized if they are trained and have a healthy lifestyle.

A 6-year-old patient deformed his neck vertebrae (left) and pictures after being treated (right).

In addition, doctors believe that this "text neck" may lead to psychological states such as anxiety and depression. The reason is that pressure on the spine can inhibit the production area of "happy hormones" such as serotonin and endorphin of the body - hormones that regulate mood.

Images like this are not difficult to catch in public places.

Specifically, he said: "Looking down on the screen will cause stretching of the spine and the brain stem area. This affects breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. In addition, hormones endorphins and serotonin - two Happy hormones - can be inhibited, causing us to wake up in a tired, depressed and anxious mood ".