Human beings are social animals. In earlier days, there were telephone booths and people would have to wait in queues for their turn to talk to their loved ones. The idea that we could walk and talk was far-fetched. But evolution is a universal rule and surprisingly even the mobile technology evolved. And voila, today we can speak overseas from the very comfort of even our toilets!

5.9 billion, the approximate number of cell phone subscriptions globally, makes up 87 percent of the world population! Mobile phones have undoubtedly revolutionized telecommunication but at the price of our health. Although mobile phones use electromagnetic waves that cannot break chemical bonds or cause ionization in the human body, it is important to maintain a distance from them in order to reduce radiofrequency exposure. A research says that 44% of cell owners have slept with their phone next to their bed because they wanted to make sure they didn’t miss any calls, text messages, or other updates during the night. With the introduction of smartphones, the youth has become increasingly engrossed with apps like Whatsapp, WeChat, Viber, etc, making them even more vulnerable to the various hazards associated with using phones. So, more the advancement in mobile technology lesser is your chance to remain safe and healthy, quite an inverse relation! Here we list the 10 dangerous effects of mobile phones on health.

10. Fatigue

Unable to sleep at night and too tired to wake up on time, sounds like your story, right? All thanks to your phone. A study has found that around 80% of CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) patients are daily users of cell phones. The prolonged use of phones worsens the body posture. Most of us fold our backs into a donut, falling back into the comfortable slouch that we are accustomed to while we text. Bad posture can cause neck pain, back pain and fatigue.

9. Joint pains

Cell phone usage has aggravated the number of kids reporting musculoskeletal diseases such as back pain and arthritis. Kids who spend a lot of time texting on their smartphones may end up suffering serious wrist and finger pain.

8. Ears

Pout not when aunties stare at you with disgust in metro. Perhaps, they just want you to unplug your earphones. They know by some undiagnosed instinct that those earphones can deafen you! Not just that, but prolonged usage of phone also heat up your ear by 0.11⁰C. Sure enough, all of us have felt that at some point of time. It is a good option to turn down the volume of your handset and to hold the phone away from your ear when you are talking and only bringing it close to listen.

7. Behavioural Effects

It is very likely for a regular mobile phone user to report chronic headaches, memory loss, and lack of concentration. High mobile phone use has been associated with stress for a long time. Sleepless nights and anxiety are the symptoms of cell phone-addiction. Over-usage of phones can adversely affect a person’s patience and tolerance causing him to be more irritable.

6. Heart

Just a minute long phone call can increase your heart rate. It has also been found that blood cholesterol level is higher in regular cell phone users. Cellphonescan cause people to experience heart arrhythmia, heart palpitations, heart flutter, or rapid heartbeat, dizziness, nausea, etc. So rethink before you decide to place your phone in the shirt pocket. Talking on a mobile phone triggers a significant increase in the blood pressure which could further lead to stroke. Radiation from phone can also cause haemoglobin loss from blood cells.

5. Brain

Mobile phones are operated very close to the head. Hence, the brain is at a greater health risk than any other organ of the body. Exposure to cellular radiation leads to neurological degeneration by disrupting the blood brain barrier, causing alterations in the way mobile users learn and remember things. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are two such neuro-degenerative diseases. Studies show that radiation penetration is more in toddlers than in adults. So switch to the conventional method of teaching your kids alphabets to help them lead a healthy life.

Bluetooth headsets are particularly dangerous because they are held within centimeters of the brain, doubling your exposure to radiation.

4. Eyes

We are in the ocean of electromagnetic waves, and we do not even realize it. Usage of mobile can lead to early cataract in lens apart from affecting retina, cornea and other ocular systems of the eye. The dielectric constant (absorption capacity) of eye tissues is around 70 which is greater than unity (above 50).  The thermal radiation emitted by mobile phones once absorbed by the eyes does not get transmitted out of the body.

3. Genetic damage

DNA is the genetic material which codes for various functions of the cell and in turn the body. High levels of radiation can lead to DNA damage which could not always be repaired by the cell and give rise to another generation of damaged DNA. DNA damage has been linked with mutations and cancer.Ongoing research warns us about cell phone over-use.

2. Infertility

Both sperm motility and sperm vitality are negatively affected under radiofrequency exposure. This is a growing concern in the medical field as lately more cases of infertility are being reported among men. Men who are exposed to their cell phones for four hours per day have about half the sperm count of non users. The place 99.9% of men would keep their phones is their pocket. For the sake of human race, do not!

1. Cancer

World Health Organization identifies Cell Phone Radiation as Class B Carcinogen. Mobile phones are capable of inducing both types of tumors- cancerous and non-cancerous. In a lady who was diagnosed with breast cancer, it was found that distribution of the cancerous cells was roughly the shape of her cell phone, which she used to tuck inside her bra. Cell phones have been linked more to brain cancers. According to Professor Lennart Hardell of Sweden, those who begin using cell phones as teenagers stand 4 to 5 times higher risk of brain cancer as young adults!

People living around a cell phone tower have a very high chance of developing cancer.