3 bad habits that could be hurting your health

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Lounge wellness roundup! Every Saturday, we bring you our pick of the wellness stories we have published over the past week, lest you've missed any of them.

This week, we focus on three stories, that specifically target habits and attitudes that have a negative impact on our overall sense of well-being. 

Why you need to stop worrying so much about the future

Are you someone who lies awake all night, stressing about your next day at work or college? Turns out that worrying so much is terrible for you, a condition called catastrophising. As this story points out catastrophising is a tendency to assume the worst will happen when imagining a future situation – even if you have evidence that this is not the most likely outcome. “People who like to feel in control (and are therefore intolerant of uncertainty) are more likely to catastrophise. This has been linked to anxiety – suggesting that frequent catastrophising may be a factor in developing certain mental health problems."

The story goes on to offer several tips that can help you if you have a tendency to catastrophe. These include holding off important decisions till the next morning, teaching your inner critic to be more compassionate, imagining better stories and being kind to yourself.

Can you really change your body in 30 days?

Jen Thomas loves 30-day challenges and itches to participate in one when she sees a fitness ad about one. “I can almost imagine what my thighs will look like after the challenge. It feels almost too good to be true,” she writes.

Turns out that she is not wrong in her assessment of a challenge. “I'll start very excited – thrilled to be part of the challenge. I'll do the day 1 exercise enthusiastically, and maybe even day 2. But I can guarantee, if I see day 3, it's a true miracle,” she says, pointing out that this holds true for most people she coaches. “Out of all the eager and excited participants, only a few will finish the challenge," writes Thomas, going on to offer ways to succeed in your challenge.

Is your phone hurting your neck?

Multi-tasking is clearly the order of the day, with many of us spending hours on our cellphone while we go about the day. It turns out that this is terrible for us. Medha Dutta Yadav talks about how simple constantly texting can land you with a "tech neck" or "text neck" trouble, as doctors often refer to it. “A lot of studies have shown an association of smartphone use with neck pain and early-onset spinal degeneration,” she writes, going on to offer suggestions to combat this issue.