Why You Should Not Sleep With Your Cell Phone at Night

Should you sleep with your phone in the bedroom? What are the potential harmful effects of keeping a phone near you in bed? Consider how sleeping near a phone may impact your ability to sleep, and changes that you can make tonight to help yourself to sleep better.Sleep with a phone in bed

Modern Phones Impact Sleep

Phones have been around since Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone in 1876

• Mobile, cell, or smartphone are now fully integrated into our daily lives
• With them, we can perform many activities necessary for modern living
• You can phone calls, send text messages, map a route, surf the Internet, respond to emails, and interact via social media like Facebook and Twitter

Remove Phone From Bedroom

By removing the phone from the bedroom and placing it to charge in another room such as the kitchen, it is possible to reduce its impact on your sleep.

Turn off Sleep-Tracking Apps

Some people use their phones as a way to track sleep and wake patterns with various apps or even wearable technology. The accuracy of correlating movement to wakefulness and stillness to sleep is highly suspect.

Optimize the Sleep Environment

Enhance your bedroom to make it the ultimate sleep sanctuary

Perils to Keeping a Phone in the Bedroom

Phones are designed to prompt your response

• There may be rings, alerts, alarms, or lights that catch your attention
• These may provoke an awakening
• If you have already fallen asleep, but forget to place your phone in a night or airplane mode, random text messages or calls may wake you

A Word From Verywell

Try your best to put technology in its place

• These devices are designed to enhance our lives, but they can become intrusive if not contained
• Commit yourself to removing the phone from your bedroom
• This small change may help you to optimize your ability to sleep and ensure that you get enough sleep to feel rested

Changes to Improve Sleep Tonight

If you have insomnia, or simply do not get enough sleep, this is a simple change that might help

Get an Alarm Clock

An alarm clock instead of using your phone

• Buy an inexpensive alarm clock if you need one to wake up on time
• Set it across the room and set it to the time you need to get up
• As much as possible, don’t look at the clock or check the time at night

Reducing Sleep

Many of these activities may prompt a compulsive desire to continue refreshing, checking, responding, reading, scrolling, posting, clicking, or playing

• This alone may lead to a delay in bedtime and reduced total sleep time
• The stimulation may make it hard to shut down and fall asleep

Light

Artificial light from screens may cause a delay in the circadian rhythm, especially on night owls with a naturally delayed sleep phase.

Make a Buffer Zone

Preserve a buffer zone and minimize light at night

• Enjoy some time spent reading, watching television or a movie, or listening to music.
• Reduce your eyes’ exposure to direct light by switching any close screens to night mode (reducing blue light).

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