Early morning & late night phone use is destroying your health.
When you reach for your phone matters.
Sunday Standup:
Book Recommendation:
Discover how phones and apps are designed to be addictive, and learn how the time we spend on them damages our abilities to focus, think deeply, and form new memories.
Get it here: How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan
Research Articles of the Week:
“benefits of pumpkin, such as improving spermatogenesis, wound healing, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-ulcerative properties, and treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia have also been confirmed by researchers.”
Nutritional Value, Phytochemical Potential, and Therapeutic Benefits of Pumpkin
“"Promoting wellness and happiness through enhancement of positive factors should be the goal of healthcare rather than merely control of symptoms with medications."
Meaning in Life and its Relationship with Physical, Mental, and Cognitive Functioning
“the hypothesis that microbe-based approaches that aim to restore youth-like microbiota could improve cognitive function and improve recovery after brain damage.”
Our complex relationship with phones
Studies show that 80 % of cell phone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up every morning.1 The truth is, this number is likely higher, and the number of people that spend the first 15 minutes doom scrolling social media is growing.
The same is true prior to falling sleep, especially in the hour before attempting to sleep. In fact analysis of different ages demonstrated that those who use technology in the hour before bed are typically younger than 30. This population also reports the largest amounts of sleep problems.
Why is this the case? Influences affecting phone use include the “irresistibility” of mobile devices, lack of self-control, entertainment or relaxation value, and high use by peers, family, and for schoolwork.2
(One) Of the problems
Electronic back-lit devices like cell phones emit short-wavelength enriched light, also known as blue light. These can be incredibly damaging to your health and well-being. Here’s one reason why.
When the sun rises in the morning, your body produces cortisol ( a hormone that makes you feel awake and alert). As the sunlight fades, your body releases another hormone, melatonin, that produces feelings of sleepiness.
Blue light emitted by your cell phone restrains the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle (circadian rhythm). This makes it difficult to fall asleep and wake up the next morning.
Children are particularly vulnerable to sleep problems stemming from electronic devices. Numerous studies have established a link between using devices with screens before bed and increases in sleep latency, and quality of sleep, and are more likely to feel tired the next day.3
This phenomenon of pediatric sleep loss has widespread implications due to the associations between insufficient sleep and an increased risk of childhood obesity, disrupted psychological well-being, and impaired cognitive/academic functioning.
What’s worse is that as soon as we wake up, we are then reaching for our phones once more. Elevated stress and anxiety levels as soon as you are transitioning from a sleep cycle. Kicking your sympathetic nervous system into overdrive. These leave imprints on your conscious and subconscious states.
When you first wake up in the morning, your brain transitions from delta waves (deep sleep state) to theta (state of reduced consciousness). Gradually, your brain then moves to produce alpha waves; when you are awake but relaxed and not processing much information.
By grabbing your phone first thing and immediately diving in, you force your body to skip the important theta and alpha stages and go straight from the delta stage to being wide awake and alert (beta state).4
You lose control of who you are and kick into catch-up mode first thing in the morning. What did you miss? Your phone has all the answers. Leading to... perpetual distraction, sleep dysregulation, social comparison, fomo-related social anxiety, depression, etc...
“Students’ dependency relationships with the smartphone have both functional and emotional dimensions, as prominently manifested in occasions of detachment from the device.”5
Keeping your phone in your bed prior to sleep is one of the most detrimental things you can do to your sleep. Reaching for your phone first thing in the morning is an worse way to start your next day. Break the cycle.
What to do instead:
Sleep Hygiene:
Sleep (& wake) with the sun
Cut out electronics use - especially 1 hour before bed
Make Your Bedroom a Screen-Free Zone
Keep the Bedroom Lights Dim or candle-lit
Keep your bedtime consistent
Avoid excessive caffeine or alcohol
Keep your room cool
Blue light blocking glasses
Make your sleeping area a sacred place, unplug, and recover for the next day.
When you first wake up:
Start with morning self-care
Walks
Exercise
Stretching
Meditation
Sunlight
Breathe work
Gratitude Journal
Start your day relaxed and on a fresh note. Be present and mindful.
https://www.nu.nl/files/IDC-Facebook%20Always%20Connected%20(1).pdf
https://bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-019-1399-5
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5839336/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/04/02/why-you-should-stop-checking-your-phone-in-the-morning-and-what-to-do-instead/?sh=79cd2bad2684
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8458628/
Excellent and practical tips here, thank you! The part about phones skipping you straight to beta was especially interesting.