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Technology makes your life much easier, right? Does it also make being healthy easier? It tells you how many steps you’ve walked, how many calories you’ve burned, and the nutritional value of your daily dietary choices. However, the larger use of technology, including at work and leisure, may actually be bad for your health.

Can technology be bad for your health? As younger generations grow up in a world flooded with technology, it’s important to assess the dangers that come along with the benefits.

• Sleep: Looking at screens – cell phone, tablet or TV – can affect the balance of light that your brain needs for proper hormone function. Aside from feeling fatigued, this change in your sleep cycle can cause hunger, and weight gain. Avoiding any screen time for at least 30 minutes before sleep can help you reset your balance.

• Eyesight: If you are staring at your computer or device for too long, you can develop dry eye from not blinking. You can suffer eyestrain or even permanent eye damage. While there are ways to improve your eyesight, such as laser eye treatment, you can start by simply looking up from the computer periodically.

• Hearing: The use of headphones for music and gaming can cause hearing loss. Part of the problem is the length of exposure to the excessive volume. Since hearing loss cannot be reversed, you need to listen at reasonable volumes, and for reasonable amounts of time.

• Addiction: When it was first suggested that you could be addicted to video games, it wasn’t taken seriously; but now it’s accepted that you can be addicted to your devices. As with any addictive behavior, you may need to seek therapy to break your addiction.

• Posture: Chances are your posture suffers as a result of technology. Tablet users are likely to strain their neck looking down at their lap. Computer users face shoulder problems from the way they sit at the computer. If your devices are taking you out of a healthy posture for long periods of time, you’re going to feel it.

Your hands can suffer in a couple of ways. Excessive keyboard use can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, which can lead to surgery. If you are texting excessively, watch out for a nasty condition called trigger finger, which can cause your fingers to lock.

To avoid injury, explore ergonomic desk stations, standing desks, and voice dictation systems to alleviate the strain on your body and hands.

Aside from lack of sleep, sitting too much can lead to weight gain and heart conditions. Even with a strict exercise routine, the amount of sitting to work and play on devices has increased so much that one hour of exercise can’t offset it. Staring at screens can cause tension headaches because of the light contrasts. The answer is to limit your time looking at screens.

It is apparent that overuse of your devices can cause a host of problems. The safest bet is to use technology in moderation. You’ll be in better health as a result!