Doctors have been warning about the mental health problems caused by prolonged screen time. A study published in JAMA Network Open concluded that reducing this activity helps reduce anxiety, stress, insomnia, and promotes socialization.

The idea was to ask the participants, nearly 400 young people between 18 and 24 years old, not to use Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X for seven days. Dr. John Torou, co-author of the study, notes that some participants did not complete the test. Nevertheless, the results are encouraging, as there was significant clinical improvement “across key areas after just seven days. The data indicated that symptoms of depression decreased by 24.8%, anxiety by 16.1%, and sleep problems fell by 14.5 %.”

Digital phenotyping revealed that, although social media use dropped from about two hours a day to just 30 minutes, total screen time increased slightly by 4.5 %, and participants spent 6.3 % more time at home. This suggests that participants shifted from endlessly scrolling through TikTok to other digital activities such as messaging, browsing the internet, or playing games.

According to the specialist, “the problem isn’t the screen itself, but how we use it. The study indicates that screen time has a weak association with mental health, since what’s truly harmful is problematic use, such as negative social comparison or emotional addiction to the platforms.”

M.Pino

Source: xataka

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The technology of so-called wearables, such as smart bracelets, watches and rings, came onto the market a few years ago. Now, thanks to neurotechnology, scientists are focusing on the brain.

But these are not brain implants like those promoted by Elon Musk. They are therapeutic medical devices that would be placed on the outside to generate impulses in the brain, and thus treat various diseases.

Neurotechnology specialists are working on devices “that apply brain stimulation from outside the body (through the skin and skull), without resorting to any physically invasive process, and as a treatment for a variety of chronic health problems.”

The pathologies in which a treatment with this innovation could be used would be “psychological conditions such as depression, menstrual pain, premenstrual syndrome and in general target applications such as anxiety, insomnia or post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Likewise, the researchers estimate that external brain stimulation devices could be useful in metabolic disorders such as obesity and type II diabetes, which could be treated using this type of portable neurotechnology.

Various startups are involved in this project that have “developed non-invasive brain stimulation technologies during the last decade” to achieve more effective alternative treatments.

How therapeutic medical devices work

The scientists explain that these devices basically stimulate brain activity “in a targeted way that can influence how a person feels by changing the electrical signals that brain cells use to communicate with each other.”

According to Dr. Camilla Nord, associate professor at the University of Cambridge and director of the Mental Health Neuroscience Laboratory, “brain cells communicate through electrochemical substances” and one way to change brain activity, as well as the patient’s thinking or mood, is “by modifying the chemistry. That is what drugs such as antidepressants and antipsychotics do.”

She adds that another way to achieve this change is by intervening in their electrical signals through low-impact electrical brain stimulation.

M.Pino

Source: muycomputer

(Reference image source: Robina Weermeijer in Unsplash)

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