In today’s digital age, it’s common for people to use their phones before bed, keep them close by as they sleep, and reach for them first thing in the morning. While it may seem harmless, sleeping with your phone can negatively impact your sleep quality and overall health. Keep reading to learn why you should keep your phone out of the bedroom.
The Blue Light from Phones Disrupts Sleep
One of the main reasons not to sleep with your phone is due to the blue light emitted from the screen. Studies show that exposure to blue light in the evenings can disrupt your natural sleep-wake cycles. Here’s how it happens:
- Blue light exposure suppresses melatonin production. Melatonin is the hormone that makes you feel sleepy.
- With less melatonin, it becomes harder to fall and stay asleep.
- Blue light shifts your circadian rhythm. This internal clock controls sleep and wake times.
- The shifted circadian rhythm makes it harder to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning.
In fact, research shows that exposure to blue light from phones before bed can lead to:
- Taking longer to fall asleep
- Reduced REM and deep sleep
- More nighttime awakenings
- Less total sleep time
- Daytime fatigue and sleepiness
Bottom line – the blue light from your phone makes it harder to fall and stay asleep, leaving you tired the next day.
Using Phones Before Bed Increase Cognitive Arousal
Scrolling through social media, playing games, and checking emails before bed doesn’t just delay sleep from blue light. These highly stimulating activities boost cognitive arousal, making it hard for your mind to unwind.
Being mentally stimulated right before bed essentially “revs up” your brain. It’s the opposite of what you want to relax and transition into sleep. Even if you feel physically tired, cognitive arousal from phones prevents your brain from fully settling down for sleep.
Plus, the emotional stimulation from social media or work emails can also disrupt sleep:
- Seeing upsetting posts can trigger negative emotions that make it hard to fall asleep.
- Stressful late-night work emails or messages keep your mind preoccupied rather than relaxed.
- FOMO (fear of missing out) from social media leads to anxiety that interferes with sleep.
Mentally unwinding away from your phone for at least 30-60 minutes before bed allows your mind to transition into a relaxed state for quality sleep.
Phone Notifications Disrupt Sleep Throughout the Night
Another problem with sleeping with your phone nearby is notifications waking you up throughout the night. Texts, calls, app alerts, news updates, and social media pings can all disrupt your sleep, even if you don’t fully wake up.
Studies show that notifications and alerts significantly disturb sleep by:
- Increasing nighttime awakenings
- Decreasing time spent in deep sleep
- Reducing sleep efficiency (total sleep time compared to time spent in bed)
Just a brief awakening to check a notification prevents you from reaching and staying in deeper, more restorative stages of sleep. Poor sleep from disruptions leads to impaired focus, mood, and health.
To avoid sleep disturbances, turn off all notifications (or set your phone to silent or do not disturb mode) so you aren’t woken up by alerts.
Sleeping With Your Phone Promotes Bad Sleep Habits
Keeping your phone in bed also reinforces poor sleep habits that harm your ability to wind down and get quality rest. For example:
- You’re more likely to use it before bed – Having your phone within arm’s reach makes it all too tempting to check before trying to fall asleep, disrupting rest.
- It encourages scrolling in bed – Easy access to your phone in bed promotes mindlessly scrolling through apps when you can’t fall asleep.
- You instinctively check it if you wake up – Your first reaction when waking up in the night is to grab your phone to check the time, messages, etc., which makes it harder to fall back asleep.
These habits train your brain to associate being in bed with phone use and stimulation, rather than relaxation and sleep. It becomes extremely difficult to break this mental connection.
Charging your phone outside the bedroom removes the temptation so you can establish positive sleep rituals.
Other Potential Health Risks of Sleeping with Phones
There are also some other concerning health effects linked to keeping cell phones too close while sleeping:
- Higher risk of anxiety and depression – Research finds more screen time before bed is associated with poorer mental health, including higher anxiety and depression.
- Exposure to EMF radiation – Cell phones emit EMFs that may disrupt sleep. But more research is still needed on radiation risks.
- Eye strain – Staring at a bright screen in a dark room can cause eye fatigue and headaches.
- Neck and back pain – Bending your neck to look down at your phone strains muscles and joints.
While more research is needed, the potential impact on mental health is reason enough to be cautious.
Tips for Keeping Your Phone Out of the Bedroom
Here are some helpful tips to keep your phone away from your bed for better sleep:
- Don’t bring your phone into the bedroom. Plug it in to charge in another room.
- Turn off all notifications so alerts don’t disturb you.
- Set a reminder to stop phone use 60+ minutes before bedtime.
- Replace phone use before bed with relaxing activities away from screens.
- Engage in calming rituals like reading a book, taking a bath, meditating, etc.
- If you use your phone as an alarm clock, switch to a traditional alarm.
- Consider putting your phone in “do not disturb” mode during bedtime hours.
It can feel uncomfortable at first to sleep without your phone nearby or check it before bed. But this discomfort will subside as you form healthier sleep habits. You’ll begin to sleep deeper and wake up feeling more rested.
The Benefits of Keeping Your Phone Out of the Bedroom
Removing your phone from the bedroom provides many advantages for improved sleep health:
- Fall asleep faster and reduce nighttime awakenings.
- Spend more time in deep, slow wave, and REM sleep.
- Wake up less throughout the night and go right back to sleep.
- Wake up feeling well-rested instead of groggy.
- Improve daytime energy, focus, mood and performance.
- Avoid disruption of normal circadian rhythms.
- Reduce anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.
Overall, you’ll get longer, higher quality sleep without your phone disrupting your night. Better sleep translates to improved health, well-being and quality of life.
Conclusion
Sleeping with your cell phone can seriously undermine your sleep quality and health. The blue light delays and disrupts your natural circadian rhythms, making it hard to fall asleep. Using your phone before bed also stimulates your mind when you need to unwind. Plus, notifications can wake you up and reinforce bad habits.
Try keeping your phone outside the bedroom starting tonight. You’ll be able to fall asleep faster with fewer disturbances. The tradeoff of being without your device for just 8 hours is well worth the many benefits of improved sleep health and function.