How Cell Phone Use Before Bed Impacts Sleep

How many of us crawl into bed ready to fall asleep and then reach for our phone? The answer is many. The effect that this behavior has on the quality of your sleep over time may be more detrimental than you realize. It is important to note that passive use of your phone to play music or fall asleep to a guided meditation, has little effect on sleep compared to active use of your cell phone. Examples of active use of your phone can be but are not limited to the use of social media, reading articles, playing games, and texting or messaging others.

Active cell phone use stimulates your brain. Stimulation delays our brain’s ability to fall asleep. Even after you are finished using your cell phone actively, your brain may stay engaged for an extended period. Perhaps you have heard that the light that your cell phone emits can keep you awake. This is true. The blue light that our cell phones emit mimics the same blue light emitted by the actual sun. Tablets, computer monitors, laptops screens, and LED television sets also emit this blue light. The blue light tricks our brains into thinking it is still daytime, which confuses the natural sleep rhythms of our bodies.  In addition, exposure to various content, may it be positive or negative, typically causes an emotional response. These emotions cause either stress you out, cause anxiety, or excite you, which prolongs your ability to fall asleep.

Cell phone use right before or in bed is essentially a bad habit. Bad habits can be improved upon and replaced with good habits over time. If you typically engage with your phone right before bed, make small changes to improve your sleep. You may consider putting your phone on “do not disturb” or “night mode” and hour before bed. If you do not use your phone as an alarm clock in the morning, you may place it in another room until the next day to remove the temptation. Instead of scrolling on your phone, try playing relaxing music or guided meditation as mentioned earlier in this blog. It may take a while for the “nighttime” you to get used to, but the “morning” you will thank you!

If you would like to speak to a professional counselor or psychologist about difficulty falling asleep or having trouble unplugging before bed and reside in Illinois, please contact Olive Branch Counseling Associates, Inc. at 708-633-8000. We are located at 6819 West 167^th Street in Tinley Park, Illinois 60477.

Hillary R.,

Masters Level Intern, 2024

Sources –

Cleveland Clinic. (2023, December 12). 3 reasons to ditch your phone before bed. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/put-the-phone-away-3-reasons-why-looking-at-it-before-bed-is-a-bad-habit