As handy as it is to use your phone as your alarm clock, you may want to buy a real alarm clock and keep your phone away from your bed, especially if you can’t resist using it before sleeping. You’ll be much better rested in the morning.
We’ve mentioned several times that screen time before bed is a bad idea, and yet we all still do it — partially because our phones and tablets are right there on the bedside table, acting as alarm clocks. Now another recent study, published in PLOS, hammers that point home. The simple solution is to keep your phone away from you at night, and just rely on an old-school alarm clock.
Digital lifestyle blogger Carley K. experimented with this setup. She found four major changes once she moved her phone from her bedside:
- She fell asleep faster
- She slept better
- She had less headaches
- She talked to her husband more
Yes, you’ll have to resist the temptation to check your social networks before falling asleep. But in the long term, isn’t a better night’s sleep worth it?
I stopped using my phone as an alarm clock: Here’s what happened [Carley K]
Comments
4 responses to “Why You Should Stop Using Your Phone To Wake Up And Buy A Real Alarm Clock”
Yeah but I need three alarms to get up. 5:50 (first batch of kids get up),6:00 (second batch of kids get up) and actually get up 6:10(I get up)…………then I got all the alarms for getting everyone ready. 6:45 stop breakfast and get dressed 7:00 lunch, shoes, jackets 7:15 out the front for the bus.
Interesting article. I’ve tried moving from phone alarm to alarm clock, but now I’m back using my phone. This is better for me because it’s easier to set different alarms for different days and I like the gradual wake up that phones have.
It sounds like the article mentions the only benefit of using your alarm clock instead of a phone is that you avoid temptation to check social media and email.
But what if you don’t have that temptation? I just plug my phone in to charge and get into bed. Not everyone needs to check Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/Email in bed on their phone.
If you can avoid that temptation, I think a phone alarm clock is better.
For gradual wake up you might like a clock radio playing music.
“She talked to her husband more”: here is the catch 22.