And even when the phone ringer is set to silent, just keeping the device in the bedroom increases the temptation to use it if/when you wake up in the course of the night. This post may contain affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you I may earn a small commission when you click a product or company link. The mere presence of a smartphone in the same room has profound effects on the brain. Nope, no more sleeping with it under your pillow waiting for that call. You’ll sleep better with your phone in another room. Your body absorbs radio-frequency (RF) energy from your phone. Sleep (and daytime waking hours) were vastly better. Now, of course, the danger with phones is not only with who you’re talking to or when you’re talking to them. Bad idea. While sleep was affected, the study was small, and it wasn’t exactly obvious what the results meant. When I was a teen, we didn’t have cellphones, but I got myself into a lot of trouble just taking the family cordless phone into my room overnight. It might feel like a part of you is missing that you can’t survive without. There is no better feeling than feeling centered and focused before the weight of the world grabs your attention. I’ve never shut mine out, it never even occurred to me. Their conclusion was that phones in children’s rooms resulted in “inadequate sleep quantity, poor sleep quality, and excessive daytime sleepiness.”. They took 6 couples on a holiday and require half of them to turn over all of their digital devices. For example, a recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 95% of people use some type of computer, video game, or cell phone at least a few nights a week within the hour before bed. 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I kept reaching for my phone again and had dreams about checking it in bed or missing something important because my phone was in the other room. While many of these risks increase when you’re actually using the phone to make a call, there’s some amount of risk whenever the phone is on and connected to a network. That number falls off slightly in middle age, but only in people 65 and older is leaving the phone in another room as common as sleeping right next it. This study indicated similar effects on adults’ sleep and daytime sleepiness. One way to break an addiction to your phone is to stop making it so available all the time. Don't let this disruption intrude into your sleep environment. You’ll reduce your stress and increase your productivity, 6. As many as 10 percent of Americans leave the ringer on their phones turned on during sleeping hours. You'll instantly relax without those alerts chirping in your ear. So, I started making a conscious effort to not be so phone needy. I don’t waste hours of good sleeping time scrolling aimlessly on Facebook. If possible, you should not have any phones in your bedroom space. The bigger issue is the brain alertness that comes about from using social media, online shopping, and other interactive phone applications at bedtime. Since that first day, I’ve made it a ritual to put my phone on the other side of the room and I’ve learned this one thing: IT CAN WAIT! Their consistent finding was a change in REM sleep. If your phone isn’t in the room with you, you won’t be tempted by those notifications, and you’ll be able to go right back to sleep. A 2011 study showed an increase in brain glucose metabolism (an indicator of brain activity) from cellphone signals near a person’s head. The risk is even higher for children, whose brains absorb twice the radiation as an adult brain. I personally noticed that my sleep overall became better and more restful when I stopped sleeping with my phone by my bed. If I’m not on my phone, I’m thinking about being on my phone. Try (gasp!) It will go a long way toward reducing screen time. You’ll go back to sleep faster in the middle of the night. More and more we are becoming addicted to our phones. What if I miss a big announcement? How about saving those two hours for being with your family? It might not just be the easy access to your phone that affects your sleep; it may be the phone’s communication technology itself. What if someone calls me? If you found this post useful, please share to Pinterest! Let’s cut to the chase. Place the phone to charge in the kitchen. If you set a family rule that bedrooms are no-phone zones, your children will sleep better and experience the other benefits of detaching from their phones overnight. We all know how important sleep is for children and their development, and it’s pretty important for us grownups too. ... “Longer average screentimes during bedtime and the sleeping … Panic set it! The blue light from the screen suppresses melatonin. But forcing yourself to go without your phone for a period of time can be a good thing. If your phone isn’t right next to your bed, it will be a whole lot easier to just get up and be productive right away rather than wasting time scrolling. As a self-diagnosed insomniac, sleep doesn’t come easy nor does staying asleep work well for me. Dr Meadows leaves his smartphone in the kitchen at night. Her most important tip might surprise you: Get your phone out of the bedroom! Is it bad to sleep next to your cellphone? The farther the phone is from your body, the lower the risk. As our cellphones have moved from “dumb” phones to smartphones, the antenna has also moved to the bottom of the phone, raising the. Here are some ways instituting a “no phones in the bedroom” rule can improve everyone’s sleep. In 2016 scientists analyzed the available studies … Don’t sleep with your phone in your bed or near your head: Unless you switch it over to airplane mode, keep it at least a few feet away. Better yet, keep your phone and laptop in another room while you slumber. an old-fashioned alarm clock or a wristwatch. And it definitely doesn’t feel good when it goes the other way. Put the phones … Take off the headset when you’re not on a call: Headsets release a small amount of RF even when you aren’t using your phone. Checking your phone when you wake up turns your brain back on and makes it difficult to go back to sleep. Since that first day, I’ve made it a ritual to put my phone on the other side of the room and I’ve learned this one thing: IT CAN WAIT! Smartphones affect deep non-REM sleep, which leaves less time for bloodflow to be directed to your muscles. Is this you? Suggest reading a book, taking a bath, or writing in a … From the stalking of my own six social media pages to the randomness of scrolling on my sister’s best friend’s cousin’s boyfriend’s Instagram to see what’s going on in other people’s lives. Or setting an alarm for the morning?