Because smartphones are capable of doing so much, many people are glued to them throughout the day. Using your smartphone isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless you spend so much time on your phone that you’re distracted from home or work obligations.
However, one of the most important times to avoid checking your phone is in the morning, right after you wake up. There are some scientific reasons as to why checking your phone first thing in the morning may affect your productivity and mental health for the rest of the day. Keep reading to learn more about why to avoid this and what to do instead.
You’re Skipping Vital Stages of Waking Up
When you think about the process of waking up in the morning, it might not seem like much. You go from sleeping to being awake, and that’s it. However, Healium reports on the neuroscience behind sleep and the stages of waking up that says otherwise.
The process of waking up involves multiple different brain waves, and they all serve an important function for your overall well-being. According to Jay Rai at Forbes, an empowerment psychologist, when you first wake up, your brain transitions from delta waves—which are resting and regenerative—to theta waves that are important for making memories, learning, and processing information.
From there, theta waves slowly transition into alpha waves, which are known to boost creativity and even lessen depression symptoms. Alpha waves then transition into beta waves, and these beta waves are what your brain typically stays in throughout the day as you go to work, interact with people, and perform household chores or cooking tasks.
If you check your phone immediately when you wake up in the morning, you’re forcing your brain to skip from delta waves to beta waves. This means your brain misses out on those vitally important alpha and theta brain waves, which can set you up for a slew of negative side effects throughout your day.
You May Start Your Day Feeling Unproductive
If you check your phone and see notifications from yesterday that you haven’t dealt with, or an email from your boss wanting for you to complete a project first thing when you come in, you’ll start your day feeling behind and overwhelmed. You might see a notification for an upcoming bill, a reminder to wish someone a happy birthday, or even a text from a friend asking if you want to get dinner that night.
These notifications aren’t necessarily bad by default, and many of the tasks attached to those notifications could probably be handled in five minutes. But when you see all of these to-do items immediately when you wake up, you already have 10 tasks running through your brain before you’ve even gotten out of bed. This results in automatic thoughts of “There’s not enough time,” “I could’ve done more yesterday,” or something similarly negative.
By not checking your phone when you wake up, you give yourself time to process what happened the previous day and prepare for the day ahead. Even though you might need to alter your to-do list to accommodate last-minute requests from your boss, you’ve had some solid time in the morning to reflect on yesterday and make a general plan for the current day.
The Day’s Tone Could Instantly Be Ruined
Checking your phone right after your eyes open also holds the potential that you’ll see negative news that sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you have push notifications for news apps on your phone, it might be a good idea to use airplane mode or Do Not Disturb mode to prevent seeing them in the morning or turn them off entirely.
This doesn’t mean you have to avoid news entirely—you shouldn’t—but reading disheartening news stories when your brain is freshly awake can make you feel pessimistic about the entire day. Consider reading stories from good news websites, or simply hold off on reading news from your preferred outlet until later in the day.
Similarly, scrolling through social media might make your self-esteem suffer and put you in a low mood if you’re comparing yourself to someone else’s highlight reel. These feelings can be worse in the morning because you haven’t experienced anything good yet in your day to bolster your confidence.
You May Be Seeking Another Dopamine Rush All Day
Scrolling through social media, playing a mobile game, or spending time in another favorite app on your phone all cause your brain to release dopamine. When your first activity in the morning is checking your phone, your brain is seeking a similar dopamine rush all day.
If your work or your class isn’t as interesting as what you were doing on your phone earlier, it can be even more difficult to stay off your phone and keep focused on the task at hand. There are a few easy ways to stay off your phone while working, like turning it off or using airplane mode, but you might find yourself reaching for your phone less in general if you don’t get a rush of dopamine from your favorite apps before you’ve gotten out of bed.
Tips for Not Checking Your Phone When You Wake Up
If you’re like most people, checking your phone when you wake up is a default mechanism. You might use your phone as an alarm clock, and when you dismiss your alarm, you automatically start going through your notifications out of curiosity or as a method of keeping yourself awake.
However, there are better alternatives to checking your phone when you wake up, like going outside, meditating, journaling, and exercising. The period of time right after you wake up is one of the best times to reflect on your goals and your thoughts. Although it might take some time and effort to break the bad habit of checking your smartphone as soon as your eyes open, it’ll be worth it.
See How You Feel After You Don’t Check Your Phone in the Morning
It may be weird at first, but by not checking your phone as soon as your eyes open, you'll be priming yourself for a healthier mindset and higher productivity throughout the day. If you think you'll struggle with being on autopilot and checking your phone by accident, you can always set Do Not Disturb mode to last until an hour after you typically wake up or go old school and put a sticky note on your phone case that says "Don't check."