What do you eat for breakfast? Do you skip the first meal of the day, eat a bowl of cereal, enjoy a donut, or have something else? Eating a donut may make you feel good at the moment – but if you eat too many donuts, or if you eat donuts every day, you’re going to see serious consequences for your health.
Your Smartphone Is Like a Donut
If you use your smartphone for too long or pick it up too many times, your mental health will ultimately suffer. You’ll be distracted and unable to focus without the constant stimulation (Tap here! Now take a look at this app instead!) that your smartphone provides. You may even fall into negative thought patterns where you compare yourself with other people to who you should never compare yourself to.
While it’s basically impossible to go without your smartphone, it’s important that you cut your phone out of your life in the main place where it has no business being: your bedroom.
Scrolling in Bed Is Bad for Your Brain
It’s not fun, but it’s true. Blue light from your phone suppresses your body’s production of melatonin, which you need to regulate sleep. If you wake up in the middle of the night, looking at a bright screen also makes it difficult to fall back asleep. It’s clear that you shouldn’t use your phone right before you go to bed, during the night – and you also shouldn’t use it right when you wake up.
This is a problem, as one survey found that a possible 83% of cell phone owners also use their phone as an alarm clock. It’s so easy to grab your phone, turn off your alarm, crawl back into bed, and start scrolling. Don’t give in to this temptation!
Options for Every Budget and Preference
Maybe you think that you have to use your phone as an alarm clock because you love listening to a certain playlist as you fall asleep. Well, there are now alarm clocks out there that let you listen to your playlist without flooding your eyes with the blue light from your phone, overstimulating your brain, and hurting your sleep!
There are so many alarm clocks out on the market that you can use instead of your smartphone. It doesn’t matter if your budget is tiny or gigantic: there’s an alarm clock out there that you can afford.
Go low-tech and buy a simple alarm clock from your favorite big-box store. Find a cute one on Etsy. Or you can go high-tech and buy the Loftie, which is a really incredible alarm clock. You can listen to your favorite playlists, use the nightlight, and wake up to the two-step alarm system that first gently wakes you with a soothing sound, and then nine minutes later wakes you with a stronger (but not startling!)
Regardless of your budget, you can buy an alarm clock to use instead of your smartphone’s alarm. Buy a low-tech or high-tech option, set it up, and put it in your bedroom. If you charge your phone at night, plug it into the wall socket in your living room or kitchen. Don’t even take your phone into the bedroom after you brush your teeth.
Sleeping better will change your life, and not using your phone at night will help you fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly through the night.
