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How can I put down my phone and go to sleep?

203 Answers
Last Updated: 06/01/2022 at 3:04am
How can I put down my phone and go to sleep?
1 Tip to Feel Better
United States
Moderated by

Tracy-Kate Teleke, PsyD, 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
insightfulWaterfall81
February 7th, 2018 4:16am
Charge your phone in another room. Minimize the distractions. Lie down and you'll fall asleep. Don't force it
Kanga
February 10th, 2018 8:35pm
Try getting off any sort of technology 2 hours prior to when you head to bed. Blue light stimulates your brain to stay awake, so thats why its hard to sleep after being on your phone. You could also try seeting an alarm on your phone telling you its time for bed. One last tip, is putting your phone in airplane mode before bed, that way you don't recieve social media notifications in the night tha will keep you up.
Anonymous
March 4th, 2018 2:32am
There's many ways to put your phone down, to help you fall asleep like turning your phone off complete,putting it on don't disturb mood completely as well put phone on vibrate.
Anonymous
March 6th, 2018 8:00am
Leave your phone out from your room, or make sure its out of reach during the night. Spend half an hour before bed meditating, doing some breathing exercises or just spending some time to yourself
WantToHelpp
March 9th, 2018 6:03am
Turn the phone off. Or turn notifications off. Then put it on the charger AWAY from you so you’re not tempted to get back on it.
Anonymous
April 12th, 2018 10:39am
Read a book a couple of hours before intending to go to bed, that way your brain will be well prepared to rest.
Anonymous
April 25th, 2018 4:20am
Turn it off. Lock it away if you have to. It's tough if it's in front of you. Sometimes it takes putting it in a place you wont bother going to get you started. I know this helps because I did so myself when I wanted to stop using my phone at night. I turned it off and put it up on the shelf so i'd be too tired to bother. And it worked.
SilentSerenityy
June 15th, 2018 11:10pm
Make a habit of leaving your phone in another room or downstairs before bed. Turn it off before you go to bed so you're less likely to bother turning it back on. This is a case of having self discipline and the desire to want to change your sleeping habits.
Anonymous
June 16th, 2018 6:41am
Putting your phone down where you can't reach it sometimes help. Self control becomes keys in these situations. Sometimes going on your phone before you go to bed becomes a habit, but you could also try things like prepare for tomorrow, do yoga, or keep your hands busy with maybe rope.
Decembre
June 21st, 2018 5:20am
I recommend leaving your phone in another room in your house/apartment. This way, you will not hear the notifications of your phone and will forget about it. Also, for the ones who are mostly lazy, will not want to wake up and go get their phone. In conclusion, this would enhance your sleeping.
Colors27
June 21st, 2018 12:37pm
try puttin your phone in another room. and turn off the internet 2 hours before sleep
Anonymous
June 24th, 2018 8:32pm
Habits become routine. It is easy to stay attached to the phone and is quite normal in this age. To break a habit, try to schedule a bedtime for electronics, for example, every night at 10PM all electronics get shut down and the night routine starts. At first, this might be difficult, but after a week or so you will have created a new nightly habit.
Anonymous
June 27th, 2018 7:02pm
Personally, I have an app downloaded that locks my phone after 12, except for emergency functions. You could try something similar if you want!
Brightheart993
June 28th, 2018 2:45am
With the distraction of technology, it can be hard to put it down and go to sleep. However, one technique that might work is to create a schedule where you turn off your phone at a particular time each night, studies show that an hour before you intend on sleeping I'd the best. When you turn your phone off st that time, you can then focus on relaxing and creating an bed time routine that works best for you.
freesanjay
July 4th, 2018 9:49am
Lay down on your bed. Don't worry if you still have your phone in your hand. Start taking very deep breaths but very slowly. Do not move your body. Completely surrender your body weight to the bed. Its important you lay down on your back and not in other positions. After a while you will start feeling very relaxed even if you are using your phone. This state of relaxation will help you put down your phone and continue being more relaxed. But remember deep, long and slow breathing is the most important part. This conscious relaxation process helps you calm down your mind and body and help you go to sleep.
Kat140615xx
July 11th, 2018 10:42pm
A lot people find that if you read a book before bed it winds your body down and relaxes you.It get your body in a routine.
shaquilleoatmeal
July 13th, 2018 5:20am
Try turning it off a half hour before bed and keeping busy without being in front of screen. Good luck
FutureTherapist6
July 13th, 2018 1:58pm
Put your phone on airoplane mode so then no notifications come through to make you look at your phone and if you have an iPhone, use the bedtime thing on your clock app to help you know when to go to sleep and when to get up.
Anonymous
July 18th, 2018 12:56am
Try to get into a routine of using no electronic devices for an hour before bed to allow yourself to fully relax which in turn will help you to have a better nights sleep 😴
MattInWonderland
July 18th, 2018 8:26pm
That's something many people find tough! It's difficult having so much at your fingertips at any time, as there are so many reasons you can give yourself to pick it up! 'I just need to answer this person', 'I can't sleep anyway so I will just watch one youtube video' etc! Before you know it, you've already picked up the phone and started, so you think 'I might as well finish!'. They say smartphones are addictive, so perhaps we can look at another addictive behaviour for an answer? Did you know that slot machines are designed to have the minimum amount of time between plays? The less time you have to think, the more likely you are to make an impulsive decision to gamble a bit more money! So try putting as much distance between your phone as you safely can - Perhaps even keep it on the other side of the room, or if you need it by your bedside, perhaps keep it in a drawer rather than on the bedside table. Whatever it takes to give you a moments hesitation in which you can remember 'My wellbeing comes first, and this Tweet can wait till tomorrow'. This is what worked for me, and I hope it's some help to you too!
phosphenerelief
August 3rd, 2018 12:17am
maybe instead of thinking "ah, if I put down my phone that means I HAVE to go to sleep" instead transition into something like reading or listening to music - then you're not forcing yourself to go to sleep or stop doing something enjoyable - you're just eliminating the negative impact that social media and blue light from your phone have on your ability to sleep.
Rando09
August 5th, 2018 11:58am
You have to find what exactly on your phone is preventing you from putting it down, whether it's Instagram or YouTube. Now, you don't exactly have to delete those apps, but if you believe that they're useless, you may want to. Secondly, you should consider stopping anything you're doing on your phone at least an hour before bedtime so that you won't have a "one last check" turn into an all nighter. In fact, doing so may also improve your sleep because you are not being exposed to the blue light of your phone.
Kaylamayes
August 23rd, 2018 11:48pm
I have the same problems almost every night, I understand how hard it is to put down your phone before bed which makes you not be able to sleep until late. One way to be able to put down your phone before bed is to stop using your phone an hour before you want to go to sleep, the reason why you can't sleep after you use your phone is because the phone produces blue light which makes you not feel as tired and it makes you feel like it's day time. Another thing you can do is read instead of going on your phone before bed that way you can have some entertainment reading as you would on your phone and reading relaxes you.
R0bbie
September 19th, 2018 3:48pm
I listen to a good podcast on YouTube called 'I Hate It Here' by Richard Lewis, he along with his equally funny producer, puts a funny spin on some weird and upsetting news articles. Worth taking a look! Another thing I enjoy doing is dancing to music before I lie down, I do this in the hopes that I will be tired by the end of it. There is also writing poems, creative writing can be boring, but if you write whats on your mind and they are only for your eyes you get some interesting pieces. Give these a shot!
SpreadLove98
November 3rd, 2018 8:26pm
Set your phone down, close your eyes and daydream of positive situations. Remove thoughts of cellphones/social media from your thoughts. Allow yourself to daydream positively. Focus on things that bring you the most joy in life. To remove the urge from using your phone, stray from the idea that social media and what’s on your cellphone can provide you the most happiness. Focus on the happiness situations that can be produces by you, yourself. Continue to understand that you are your own person, and have control over your thoughts and actions. This thought is that you do not need your phone, and this action is that you should not pick up your phone.
Hopefulxyou
November 11th, 2018 12:05am
Turn your phone off and before you go to sleep like an hour before read a book, draw or do anything that is mindful to make your brain settle. If you still find it hard distract yourself and put your phone on airplane mode. It can be hard to put your phone down but remember that if you do stay up late you will regret it. People normally should have around 8-10 hours of sleep and not having enough sleep can cause a lot of stress at work, school or home itself. So get your sleep. Also when you sleep your brain fights those bugs in your body to ensure you are healthy and when you don't sleep it increases you of getting sick. :)
angelFace94
November 14th, 2018 3:29pm
I would recommend that you create a schedule for yourself. Maybe you should download an app that shuts your phone down at a certain time and turns it back on only in the morning. If you don't wanna do that, you should put your phone somewhere else when you go to bed. Like leave it in the kitchen or in the living room and go to bed. If you need it for the alarm clock in the morning, maybe turn the wi-fi off and the airplane mode on. What I think is really important though is giving yourself a schedule. It will make it easier.
Anonymous
November 18th, 2018 12:03am
Try putting your phone charger in a different room than where you sleep. Get an alarm clock so you do not need your phone to wake you up in the morning. Keep some books by your bedside so that if you need something to read/look at you won't be bothered by the screen. After a month or so of not taking your phone to bed it will become less tempting and you might start getting better quality sleep! Give yourself an hour or so earlier in the evening to dedicate to looking at your phone and then put it away for the night.
brilliantArrow13
December 23rd, 2018 4:19pm
If you want to go to sleep, you need to get off your phone (and tv, for that matter) at least an hour before going to bed. You should probably also put something over your eyes, so all blue light is gone. You should also probably turn off every light in your house for extra measure. But you don't even have to put down your phone. You could probably get away with putting it in Night Shift mode. This is a mode on IOS and Android that gets rid of all the blue light on your phone screen, and replaces it with orange light, so you can sleep better.
Chris0029
March 2nd, 2019 10:14am
The first thing I would recommend is to develop a healthy sleep routine. This is something most of us struggle with, I think. This typically looks like having the same 'getting ready for bed' routine every night (give or take), and putting screens away before we get into bed. Sometimes a routine starts early, with tooth-brushing and face washing, a specific drink before bed or other habits that soothe you and prime your mind to settle down. Sometimes it's just getting into your pajamas and reading a book for 15 minutes before turning out the lights. Healthy sleep habits also include using our blue light filter on our phones in the evening and keeping the bed itself a screen-free zone before sleep. If you feel the need to check your phone again, get out of bed and do it somewhere else. Then repeat your bedtime routine (or the end of it) without the phone. Adding more exercise throughout the day can help a lot, as well. All of these tips, when done regularly, make a massive difference in getting to sleep easier, and in keeping good habits like not getting sucked back into our phones when we should be sleeping.