4 Reasons Why You Should Kick Your Phone Out of the Bedroom

It’s been 2.5 years since I stopped bringing my iPhone into the bedroom. And my sleep and mood have significantly improved. Your bedroom is the place for relaxation, sleep and sex. There is no place for your phone in there.

The statistics across the globe are disturbing. One study in the US showed that 93% of Americans sleep with their phone within arm’s reach, and almost 10% sleep with their phone under their pillow!

Why is having a phone in your bedroom so bad?

1. It’s impacting your sleep. And I think most of you heard about it, but I’ll repeat it: Sleep is probably the most important part of our day. If we had a good night sleep, we can rock the day. But bringing the phone to your bed is delaying your sleep time, as usual, it is very hard to stop scrolling and put the device away. It’s reducing your sleep time and may contribute to sleep deprivation. The stimulation your brain gets from your phone makes it hard to relax, shut down and fall asleep. The mind may be overly excited and activated. Also, vibrations and light from notifications can disrupt your sleep.

2. The blue light from your phone is impacting your circadian rhythm. We have our internal 24 hours clock, which is responsible for our sleep-wake cycle. However, access to the screen light, especially in the evening impacts melatonin production (our sleep hormone), as well as our metabolism, and wakefulness.

3. Having your phone in the bedroom might be impacting your sex life and your relationship with your partner. What is the last thing you see before closing your eyes at night: your partner or your phone screen?

4. Another reason why you should ditch your phone from your bedroom is that it is impacting your mental health. When the first thing you do in the morning is replying to messages, scroll social media, check emails, read the news, without realising it you are already caught up in hundreds of small, non-urgent things, instead of putting yourself and your needs first. As a result, you can feel frustrated, agitated, anxious, mentally exhausted before the day even started.

I want you to reconsider bringing your phone into your bedroom. How you can do that - by implementing new habits:

• Get yourself an alarm clock - a real one!! I am using a wake-up light alarm clock and it was the best purchase of my life. The one I have is from Phillips (not sponsored), and what it does is wake you up by lighting up the room and it feels like a gentle sunrise, so you feel more refreshed and not woken up suddenly from your deep sleep phase.

• Find a new home for your phone outside of your bedroom, where you can charge it, maybe in the kitchen.

• Stick a poster on the bedroom door “Phone-Free-Zone” to remind yourself at the start before you get used to your new habit

• I know there are some digital people out there, who love reading on an iPad before bed. To reduce the impact of the blue light you can get yourself a pair of screen protection glasses.

• Try not to scroll your phone at least 30-60 mins before bed and after you wake up. Give your brain time to slowly wake up without an overload of information, problems and distractions, you’ll have enough of it during your day. And try to expose yourself to the morning natural light, that way you feel sleepy earlier in the evening.

Which one of these tips did you find useful?