4 Overlooked Benefits of Not Taking Your Phone to Bed That Are Too Good To Ignore
The modern version of developing self-control.
This article was unplanned because I didn’t know I could go to bed without my phone. After all, doomscrolling was an essential part of my sleep ritual until my phone died, and I had to sleep without it.
Avoiding screen time around sleep time is an excellent way to wind down and signal your mind for slumberland because constant external stimuli will only confuse your brain.
Two weeks ago, my phone died while I was using it in my bed. There was no power in the house.
I was too lazy to reach for the power bank in the other corner of the room. So, I decided to sleep without my phone.
The next day, when I woke up with an uninterrupted 7 hours of sleep, the boost in mental peace I experienced became too important to ignore.
Out of curiosity, I have been intentionally avoiding my phone 30 minutes before bedtime since then.
Without much awareness and conscious effort, I have gone 12 days of sleeping without my phone, and now I have more reasons to stick with this new routine after boosting my confidence with 12 days of consistency.
Here are four benefits I have experienced about not taking your phone to bed that are too good to ignore.
#1. Body clock.
How you start your day depends on how you end your previous day.
Doing the same activity at the same time of the day develops a body clock that becomes automatic if we don’t interfere with it frequently.
Interference was my case until 12 days ago. I confused my brain with screens when I should have limited access to technology around bedtime.
Now I know I have to avoid my phone 30 minutes before bedtime. This has indirectly set my sleep time.
Accordingly, I wake up the next day on time with my essential tasks listed out so I don’t have to deplete my brainpower in decision-making.
#2. Mood regulation.
The best benefit of avoiding phones around bedtime is their impact on your emotions.
Doomscrolling before bed means you are filling your mind with the priorities of others.
What’s going on in someone else’s life will only drown you in a comparison trap instead of comparing yourself to who you were yesterday.
Avoiding my phone before bed gave me enough time to spend in solitude to nourish my mind instead of bombarding it with unlimited information for dopamine surge.
#3. Self-care.
Sleep ritual is a powerful routine that decides how you’ll evaluate each day as it comes because that’s how we zoom in on life.
How you live your day is how you live your life.
Tomorrow doesn’t exist. It is shaped by what we do today.
Spending some quality time between dinner and sleep by reading, skincare, walking, and meditation are some of the activities that are helping me find a better replacement for my phone addiction.
When you’re comfortable staying alone, you develop a healthy relationship with your mind because staying alone with your thoughts is how you gain clarity and organise mental traffic.
My definition of self-care is having a crush on your brain and doing everything to protect its inner peace to respect everything it does for you.
#4. Quality sleep.
A distraction-free sleep is as vital as distraction-free work.
If you don’t spend quality time daily to recover yourself for the next day, your performance throughout the day will inevitably suffer.
Earlier, I used to check my phone whenever I woke up in the middle of the night.
Even when I had to pee, I wouldn’t go to the bathroom. I’ll use my phone for around 30 minutes, do some delusional sleep algebra, and wake up 30 minutes later than usual.
The 30-minute distraction is enough to ruin your sleep quality and negatively impact the next day’s performance.
Closing thoughts
I haven’t talked extensively about how to avoid phones or screens around bedtime because I am still struggling my way through it, but here are some pointers you can use from what I have devised:
- Set a sleep song.
- Listen to it on repeat in your earphones until you doze off to sleep, and the song will fade in the background.
That’s it. That’s all I do.
It started as a curious experiment two weeks ago when my phone’s battery died, and I was lazy enough to get the power bank.
Laziness helped me develop this new healthy habit.
I am still struggling because I have only solved the puzzle of consistency after 12 days of battling my need for online external validation.
But if there is one thing I appreciate daily that motivates me, it is the improved quality of sleep day by day.
Even though I have avoided checking social media before bed, doomscrolling has become the first thing I do after I wake up. Hence, the struggle.
Once I can optimise my wake-up ritual, I hope my phone addiction dies slowly in the morning also for a holistic recovery.
Here is a recap for your memory:
- Phones around bedtime interfere with your body clock by giving signals of alertness when it’s time to wind down instead.
- The more you avoid online drama by avoiding hyperstimulation, the calmer you stay in real life.
- Spend quality time with your mind for self-care instead of watching what everyone else is doing (which is mostly a highlight reel, anyway!).
- Distraction-free sleep means a focused work day ahead. All the more reason to avoid phones around bedtime to improve focus!
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Sanjeev is a mentor, writer, and gymrat from Mumbai, India. He talks about fitness, self-improvement, and positive psychology. When he’s not at work or writing, he’s sweating either in a workout, vlogging or testing his horrible cooking skills. Apart from Medium, he’s active on Instagram and Threads.
