“It Could Actually Ruin Your Sleep” — The “Healthy Habit” an Expert Warns Against
Social media is flooded with health advice, from recommendations to take certain supplements every day to detailed guidelines on exactly how much exercise we should get. But trying to follow every single rule can leave you feeling exhausted rather than healthier.
Ezekiel Emanuel, a physician and health policy expert at the University of Pennsylvania, says that health management has become unnecessarily complicated. “There’s a tendency to make taking care of your health far more complicated than it needs to be,” he said.
Emanuel emphasizes that while healthy habits are important, there is no need to obsess over every detail. For example, moderate-intensity exercise is often defined as raising your heart rate to 50–70% of your maximum. But Emanuel says trying to hit that range precisely can become excessive. Instead, he recommends simply making it a goal to exercise enough to get your heart rate higher than usual.
The ideal recommendation is 150 minutes of exercise per week, but maintaining that target every single week can be difficult while managing everyday life. Rather than trying to follow the guidelines perfectly, Emanuel says it is enough to make a consistent effort to get close to the recommended amount.
Technology has also led many people to constantly track and monitor whether they are getting enough sleep. This, too, can become an obsession. Sleep comes naturally when the body and mind are relaxed, so becoming fixated on getting a certain number of hours can actually make it harder to sleep well. If you want to improve your sleep, Emanuel says that simply putting away electronic devices before bed can make a difference.
“I try not to look at my phone while eating dinner or to put it away an hour before bedtime. I even try to go an entire day without using my phone,” he said. “I don’t succeed every day either, but what matters is making the effort.”
Emanuel also stresses the importance of finding balance in everyday life. “If you become overly focused on exercise or diet, you can end up neglecting social connections, which are just as important to your health and happiness,” he said. Rather than filling your entire day with health-related routines, he recommends continuing to make time for hobbies and other activities that bring you joy.
Source: 헬스조선 (https://health.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2026/08/07/2026080702562.html)