

Moderated by
Tracy-Kate Teleke, M.A., LMFT
Marriage & Family Therapist
I assist adults and couples in CA experiencing relationship challenges and interpersonal struggles including anxiety, depression, and a myriad of other life challenges.
Top Rated Answers
Remember that when you wake up the next morning you'll regret staying up late. You'll have dark circles, headache (horrible one), you'll want to sleep all day long and have almost 0 energy
That's a complicated question to answer blindly, but for starters, install a blue light filter on your mobile to help your body secrete Melatonin better (The sleep hormone).
Make a habit of disconnecting your phone from internet an hour before your bed time, and spend that hour reading or doing a light, non-engaging activity to relax your mind (or distract it, if overthinking is the issue).
Make sure you exercise with moderate intensity in the morning (yes it helps you in the evening :D)
Keep your room quieter, darker, and cooler during that last hour before bed.
I hope this helps :)
Anonymous
October 30th, 2016 11:24pm
Put as much distance between you and your phone when you are sleeping. For example, you may want to put your phone in a box, inside another box, inside a cabinet, in a room 2-3 rooms away. When that is done, think about why you feel you need your phone so much. Do you think you are dependent on it? Are you often only dependent on your phone when you are alone for example?Why is that? What can you do in your day-to-day life to practice not being as dependent on your phone? After time, this problem may lessen. Good luck!
I let my phone charge in another room so I do not feel tempted to check it. Especially if someone's messaging me. Put your sleep first!
Anonymous
February 25th, 2017 8:48pm
I used to have a similar problem where I would spend time on my phone instead of sleeping. I charge my phone at night and I found it very helpful to not sleep in the same room my phone charges. It was hard at first, but after about a week, I got used to it and falling asleep is so much easier now!
Turn it off. For the love of God, buy an alarm clock. It's better than having the phone wake you up. Which may interrupt sleep.
Anonymous
April 8th, 2015 12:28pm
If you have this problem then it shows the sign of your addiction towards virtual world. It can be with mobile games, with chating or something else. Just try to keep yourself more busy in real world. It can be with your friends, work, family, sports anything. As soon as you find something more interesting there, things will turn out better.
Anonymous
May 31st, 2015 9:29pm
I set an alarm on my phone called "sleepy time". It goes, off, and the phone goes away. The laptop and tv get turned off - no electronics after that time. I read for about 20 minutes, and sleep is nearly instant when I go to my bedroom.
Yes, this is a tricky one! Well the first step is to want to change. Without this need or desire you might struggle. Maybe, at night before you go to bed, switch off your phone and leave it another room, maybe to charge. This way the temptation is no longer by your bed. Switching it off will stop you being distracted should it beep. If you live with another person, maybe let them know that your in this situation, and ask if they would be kind enough to take your phone off you at a certain time, and give it back at a certain time in the morning. If you don't like by yourself, maybe put it into a place where its not easily accessible, meaning it will be harder to reach at night. Another good tip, is switch off your phone 30 minuets before you go to bed. This gives your body time to relax and tire. Phone screens can sometimes trick the mind into thinking its daylight.
Hope this helps :)
Anonymous
April 26th, 2018 7:06am
You can place your phone far away from your bed, turn the light off and try to sleep. Once you are in bed, you’ll be too lazy to walk and get the phone.
As per my personal experience, there are two ways to do this. One is to switch your phone to airplane mode and sleeping as you know that you will not receive a call or text that way. And the other way is to put your phone away from your bed. Probably on the table where you can't access it without getting up. That really helps. And also put on an eye mask when you are about to sleep and no matter what, do not take it off. You will sleep instantly!
Set an alarm on your phone that tells you when to power down for the day. Once this is done... go into your bedroom and read a book. Don't take your phone into your bedroom!
Easy, just let the battery run to zero every day and keep the charger and phone far away from your bedside and reach. Force your mind to relax and not think of the phone.
I've read it suggested multiple times to try leaving your phone in a different room, and getting it completely out of reach. In this day and age, when our phone is also our clock, our alarm, our calendar, etc... that can be a difficult thing to do. I think it helps to get it out of arms length at least, leaving it to charge across the room, where you can't just roll over and turn to it. Find something else to do before bed besides checking your phone, read a book perhaps. It's a hard habit to break, but if it's something that inhibiting your sleeping, I think it's worth the effort.
Anonymous
March 30th, 2018 4:37pm
Turn off the wifi, put your phone on flight mode, log out of social media. Read a book. Drink some water. Go to the toilet. Do anything that doesn`t require electronics for at least one hour. Try hard.
Anonymous
May 23rd, 2018 7:04pm
Make a plan of how much phone time you have each day. If you put it away before your times up, you get extra time the next day. If you go over your time, you get less time the next day.
It can be hard to cut out technology before bedtime, but it can help to improve the quality of your sleep. It's easy to make a habit out of spending hours on the phone before sleep and waking up only to face the phone screen first thing in the morning once more. It's healthy to create a routine whereby you have some activities which can help you wind down for the day by putting you in a relaxed state. This could involve taking a shower or a bath, drinking a cup of tea, practising a bedtime yoga or meditation, writing down a few things you are grateful for, writing out any thoughts and feelings, reading and many other tips and tools which you can find online or come up with yourself.
Another useful tip is to download a blue-light filtering app which will soften the light emitted from your phone screen making it less harsh on the eyes. Due to the reduced colour temperature, the light won't interfere so much with melatonin levels which our body produces to help induce sleep. Blue light from the phone screen can disrupt the production of melatonin; a hormone involved in our sleep/wake cycle, and in turn make us feel wide awake and restless. This tool can be useful if at the beginning you find it difficult to just let go of the distraction provided by the device especially if you find that a lot of thoughts come to the surface when you force yourself to just lay there. Reducing the time you spend each night on your phone little by little and trying to incorporate some relaxation techniques to train your body that it is time to wind down and go to bed, will eventually lead to easier and better quality sleep.
Lastly, you may want to consider taking note of the kind of content you tend to view before you go to sleep and how this could impact your thoughts and feelings. Reading tragic news, or other depressive stories online can increase anxiety. Watching a positive video on Youtube such as someone putting across self-help guidance or an inspirational message can make us feel more at ease. There are even videos available online of sleep-inducing bedtime meditations which you can drift off too and they can also be very helpful. Good luck. :)
Anonymous
June 27th, 2016 3:21am
Putting down your phone is always hard! Limit yourself to a time and turn it completely down so your not tempted to stay on it!
Anonymous
August 16th, 2019 1:52pm
Put your phone in another room, or give it to your parents or siblings/friend. Don't have it charging in the same room as you. If you need a way to wake you up without your phone i recommend investing in a digital alarm clock!
Speaking from experience - unless I know I've got work the next day where I get an early morning call from my work provider, I usually always put my phone on Flight/Fly Mode. The reason why is that the small amount of radiation the WiFi/Phone Services puts out can be enough to stop your brain from relaxing 100%. With that said you also get zero disturbance from friends or relatives that tries to contact you. Try to make it a habit that right before you put your phone away, turn Flight Mode on, and you will get a lot more quality sleep that way!
I hope it will help just as much as it has helped me.
Anonymous
July 7th, 2015 1:14am
First you have to make sure your done on your phone such as everyone has said there goodnights and etc. and turn your phone completely off and close your eyes and imagine anything that brings joy to you and soon as you know it you'll be fast asleep.
I have problems doing this as well. I would set a timer on your phone and then when you see the time is up, remember what you thought earlier about it being better to go to sleep and persuade yourself to.
Try to have a set time to switch your phone off and get some rest. E.g give yourself an hour after you get into bed and then after the hour get to sleep,
Usually I use my phone if I can't sleep and just look on Facebook or something and it usually gets me tired. But I just tell who I can (if talking to someone) I have to go to bed.
Anonymous
August 30th, 2016 12:46am
Try turning off your phone by at least 10pm at night and giving it to a parent or somebody else in the house who you trust and allow them to hide it in a place you won't find until morning. Then you won't have access to it, and will be able to fall asleep.
Set yourself some 'phone time' and set an alarm to remind yourself to get off your phone. Set phone time 3-4 hours before you intend to sleep.
It basically comes to will power to actually put your phone away and go to sleep instead. Time your phone charging so that the battery will be low just around the time you are supposed to sleep.
You need to plan a set time where you will put your phone down and try to stick with it. Possibly try and keep your phone away from your bed to stop you from reaching for it.
It can definitely be difficult to put your phone down and go to sleep, however the best method I have found for myself is to leave your phone charger somewhere in a room that is different than the one you sleep in. This reduces the availability you have to reach for your phone, when you should be going to sleep.
Try to set an alarm at least half an hour before your designated bedtime and spend that time meditating or preparing for the next day (plan out your outfit, meal prep, etc.).
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