How many times have you crawled into bed early to catch up on sleep only to find yourself scrolling through Instagram until the early hours of the morning? What about all the times you woke up in the middle of the night, checked your phone, and suddenly you’re awake for the next few hours?
If you answered yes to either (or both) of these questions, you are certainly not alone! Countless studies have shown that using your phone before bed can disrupt your sleep. Catherine Price, the author of How To Break Up With Your Phone, explains in her book that blue light, which comes from your phone, stops the production of melatonin (that’s the hormone that makes you tired), just like daylight does. Because of this, you’re telling your brain “Hey! It’s daylight! Stay awake!” without meaning to.
One obvious solution to combat this is to put down your phone and pick up a physical book before you fall asleep. By doing this, you are giving your brain a break from this light which will overall help you fall asleep and stay asleep better. Some psychologists even believe that escaping into a fictional world for six minutes will help you sleep better because it can relieve stress in your body.
Let’s also talk about the fact that reading before bed has been proven to reduce your overall stress levels as well! One study done by a university in the United Kingdom discovered that reading (especially before bed) can reduce your stress levels up to 68%. With everything going on in the world right now, everyone could use a stress reliever or two. Reading is the perfect way to decompress from everything.
There are so many other ways that reading before bed can benefit you, and it is as simple as putting down your phone and grabbing a book off your shelf! Penguin Random House even started a program called Read to Sleep to promote improving yourself and your sleeping habits. Check it out here and go catch some zzzzs!