How spending less time on your phone could improve your mental health

How spending less time on your phone could improve your mental health

Many of us may feel that we are spending too much time on our mobile phones or staring at screens.

What does focus on the present mean? – To focus on the present means to pay attention to how you feel right here, right now, often this is referred toToo much screen time, whether this is your phone, tablet or smart TV, has been found to increase some health risks such as obesity, diabetes as well as sleep problems. There is also evidence to suggest that too much time spent on social media can actually make people feel more lonely and depressed, particularly among the teenage population.

Many people underestimate the amount of time that they spend looking at their smart phones. Many phones these days have built in functions which will allow you to monitor your screen time, by letting you know how much time you have spent on a particular app, such as social media.

One way to look less at your phone in the day is to manage your notifications. Our phones can buzz a hundred times a day with notifications from various apps, which can be incredibly distracting as usually we compulsively reach for our phone when it makes a noise, and then once inside we may find we end up looking at something else without even realising it.

Turning off the notifications that you do not need in your settings will help you to stop picking up your phone every time you get a notification.

Creating phone free spaces in the home is another technique which has been found to be very useful during lockdown. This can be done by designating times or areas of the home in which phones will not be used such as when you are working or if you have friends over.

Taking your phone to bed with you can have a detrimental impact on your sleeping patterns. The blue light that is omitted by a phone screen actually sends signals to the brain telling it to stay awake, which is the opposite of what you want when you are getting ready for bed. Create a sleep environment and prepare by not looking at your phone before bed time, and instead relax in a dimly lit room with a book – a calming activity which will signal to your brain that it is time to go to sleep, and an activity which will help you sleep much better when you do fall asleep.