Even if you really want to, stop!
It is very comfortable for us to keep the phone near the bed. He is always at hand and can serve as good entertainment before bed. On it, you can turn on the soothing sounds of rain, and it is he who will wake you up in the morning. But despite all the positive aspects, the habit of putting your smartphone on the nightstand next to your bed can also have a negative impact.
A huge body of research has proven that using the phone before going to bed leads to sleep problems. For example, sometimes it makes it harder for you to fall asleep. Part of the problem has to do with how much the bedtime chatting and watching the feed can cheer you up. Therefore, it is important to remember that even if you are just lying in bed and calmly looking at inspiring photos, you are still using your brain and doing activities that usually do not contribute to sleep.
Having your phone nearby when you fall asleep also makes you more likely to want to quickly check your work email or see some kind of group chat discussion. “Frequent phone use can create the overwhelming feeling of being available 24/7,” says Rosa McDowell, a sleep expert. These feelings lead to stress, which makes you more unstable.
Studies have shown that blue light emitted from a screen is not beneficial either. “When you look at your phone, it emits blue light that interferes with the body’s production of melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep and allows your body to rest, ”says family therapist Ibinje Osibodu-Onyali. Without melatonin, a person cannot sleep for several hours (perhaps just with a phone in hand) or wakes up, but still feels sleepy.
This is why Osibodu-Onyali recommends that you stop using your phone about an hour before you go to bed. This will give your body enough time to produce melatonin. It’s hard to break the habit of using your phone before bed. But if you replace this time with reading books or any other hobby, then, most likely, you will soon feel the difference and begin to sleep better.
And if you are the ones who do not pick up the phone at all, but simply put it on the bedside table, then there is bad news for you too. It can still impair the quality of your sleep. If you receive any notification, you can assume that your sleep is disturbed. “Please note that vibration mode and various alerts can cause problems if your phone is constantly near you. The buzzing sound disrupts sleep, ”says Osiboda-Onyali.
Let’s say you turned off all sound notifications and put your smartphone in silent mode. But if you receive a message, the phone screen will light up in a dark room, and this small amount of light can be perceived by your eyelids. It also negatively affects sleep quality, Ibinye said. You may not even know that it happened, but in the morning you will feel tired. This is a side effect of sleep disturbance.
But despite the stress, light and noise, you still have to admit that there are many advantages to having your phone close at hand even at night. “Your smartphone has an alarm to help you wake up in time so you can see emergency messages right away,” says Liz Brown, founder of SleepingLucid, a sleep awareness campaign. The soothing sounds of rain can also make it easier to fall asleep.
“This is where compromise comes in,” Brown said. To take advantage of all the benefits, you can leave the phone in the same room, but place it at such a distance that you cannot pick it up while lying in bed. This will save you from wanting to check if a new message has arrived, but at the same time it will retain the ability to wake up on an alarm clock. You will also reduce the likelihood that the light from the screen can somehow impair the quality of your sleep.
When it comes to such things, you just need to find a balance. If you want to turn off your phone or hide it in another room, relying on old alarms, then do so. If you are used to turning it upside down and putting it on the bedside table, then no one can forbid you to do this. Most importantly, through trial and error, figure out what works best and gives you a good, healthy night’s sleep.