Robert Lustig, emeritus professor in pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of “The Hacking of the American Mind.” “And our phones are absolutely contributing to this.” Smartphone Stress “Every chronic disease we know of is exacerbated by stress,” says Dr. This cycle, when continuously reinforced, leads to chronically elevated cortisol levels.Īnd chronically elevated cortisol levels have been tied to an increased risk of serious health problems, including depression, obesity, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, fertility issues, high blood pressure, heart attack, dementia and stroke. Any time you check your phone, you’re likely to find something else stressful waiting for you, leading to another spike in cortisol and another craving to check your phone to make your anxiety go away. “It’s a stress response, and it feels unpleasant, and the body’s natural response is to want to check the phone to make the stress go away.”īut while doing so might soothe you for a second, it probably will make things worse in the long run. “Your cortisol levels are elevated when your phone is in sight or nearby, or when you hear it or even think you hear it,” says David Greenfield, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction.
The result, as Google has noted in a report, is that “mobile devices loaded with social media, email and news apps” create “a constant sense of obligation, generating unintended personal stress.” But the average American spends four hours a day staring at their smartphone and keeps it within arm’s reach nearly all the time, according to a t racking app called Moment. If they happened only occasionally, phone-induced cortisol spikes might not matter. But our bodies also release cortisol in response to emotional stressors where an increased heart rate isn’t going to do much good, such as checking your phone to find an angry email from your boss. These effects can be lifesaving if you are actually in physical danger - like, say, you’re being charged by a bull. Its release triggers physiological changes, such as spikes in blood pressure, heart rate and blood sugar, that help us react to and survive acute physical threats. But our phones’ effects on cortisol are potentially even more alarming.Ĭortisol is our primary fight-or-flight hormone. This manipulation of our dopamine systems is why many experts believe that we are developing behavioral addictions to our phones.
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