Too much phone use causing ‘text neck’? It’s stressing your heart too

A new study has found that constantly bending your head to look at your phone – a condition popularly known as “text neck”, could do more harm than just causing neck and shoulder pain. It could also disrupt your heart’s ability to manage stress and relaxation, leading to deeper health concerns.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cureus, which included 84 participants between the ages of 19 and 45, examined how forward head posture (FHP), the typical tilted-head position while using phones, affects heart function, mental health, and smartphone dependence.The condition, also called “text neck syndrome,” is increasingly seen in young adults and has become a public health issue because of prolonged mobile phone use.
What is “Text Neck”?
Text neck refers to the unnatural posture where the head leans forward from the neck while using mobile devices. Over time, this posture can lead to chronic neck and shoulder pain, backaches, headaches, and even problems with eye strain and dizziness. The study explained that there are two main ways this happens: either the neck bends forward while looking down at a phone or the lower part of the neck bends while the upper part extends to keep looking ahead, especially during computer use. Apart from causing physical discomfort, this poor posture can pressurise the spine and disrupt the nervous system’s ability to regulate key functions like blood pressure and heart rate.
Heart and Stress Link
Researchers from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, measured heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of how well the heart responds to stress, to understand how posture affects the body’s automatic functions. People with a more severe forward head posture showed signs of increased stress response, known as sympathetic dominance, and reduced ability of the body to relax, which is controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system.