The Magic Number is Four
When it comes to “Honoring Your Health: Mind, Body, and Spirit,” the magic number is four.
New research just released by Dr. Dimitri Christakis suggests that if you want to stay physically healthy, mentally sharp, and spiritually vibrant, it’s imperative that you find a way to be “screen-free” for at least four hours each and every day.
Importantly, when you don’t get at least four hours of screen-free time daily, you will begin to see your health change in these three detrimental ways:
1. Excessive screen time changes your body.
Without four hours of screen-free time daily, your eyes, neck, back, and hands will slowly begin to cause you problems. You also will not sleep as soundly as you should. Like clockwork, you will gain weight, and your heart and lungs will become reconditioned because you are passively glued to a digital device.
2. Excessive screen time changes your brain.
In addition to your body breaking down, your brain will begin to change as well — and not for the better. According to author Nicholas Carr:
“The online environment may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use.”
When you interact too much with your digital devices, you all but assure losing your ability to focus, concentrate, and do deep work. Never forget that heavy tech use has the power to cause not just modest alterations but fundamental changes in your mental makeup.
3. Excessive screen time changes your spirit.
Excessive screen time also changes your spirit. When you don’t get at least four hours of screen-free time every day, you will begin to see a very real increase in emotions such as agitation, stress, anxiety, and depression.
To maintain your health — body, mind, and spirit — it’s important to find time to be screen-free each and every day. This can be accomplished by spending an hour or more outdoors marveling at the beauty of God’s creation, spending long hours immersed in a hard copy of a great book, or preparing and sharing a savory and delicious meal with your family.
Whatever your screen-free pursuit, the most important thing is that you start. As Leaders of Light, we need you to be at your best. Your colleagues and coworkers need you to be at your best. Your friends and family need you to be at your best. And perhaps most of all, you need you to be at your best.
A wise person once said, “You only get one chance at this life. But if you do it right, it’s enough.”
See light. Be light. Spread light.