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

Putting down your phone and going to sleep can be hard at times. The best way to go about this is just to set it out of sight, out of mind. I will admit I tend to stay on my phone too much through the night, but creating a night routine helps. Create a routine where you are not on your phone for at least thirty minutes before you go to sleep so it's not on your mind. I would also turn off your notifications, it can wait until tomorrow. Your sleep is more important than scrolling through social media.

If like many people you rely on and use your phone as your alarm then I suggest putting it on charge overnight on the side of the room farthest from where you sleep, and to put it upside down and on do not disturb mode or mute. This way notifications aren’t tempting you and you can’t just reach out and grab it, but must get up out of your comfy warm blankets. Put it on charge at least 1/2 hour to an hour before you want to sleep; it usually takes 15 minutes for someone just laying there to fall asleep but I know it’s hard when you have stuff on your mind. To keep your mind off of your phone go over your day in detail or do what I do, make up a story. Concentrating on your breathing and meditating are other ways to help you fall asleep.

Set a timer on your phone to have it go into sleep mode. I found this really helpful as a reminder. Other things you can do to remind yourself to put your phone away are set an alarm, or set time limits on specific apps. It’s also helpful to discuss this with a mental health professional or doctor. They can suggest medically-sound ways to switch your body into “sleep mode”. Something else that I found helpful is not using my phone in my bed. I use my bed to sleep, and not do any kind of work. This makes my body more ready for sleep when I get into bed, and this way I’m not anticipating screen time.

Plug it in on the other side of the room, or even in another room. This also helps when waking up, at least for me. It's harder to get up, snooze the phone, then go back to bed and fall asleep (as opposed to snoozing the phone when it's right next to you). You may also be able to change your phone settings so that certain apps are locked after a set bedtime, and on androids you can turn everything black and white after that set time. It's worked for me, and I usually go to bed on time now.

Hello there. It sounds like you have built a reliance and found comfort and entertainment on your phone. You are not alone here. I suggest that you set a goodnight rule. Set a time that you will leave your phone on the charger to not be touched again until the morning. One strategy is to do it about an hour before lights are out so that you can use that time to get ready for bed and the next day. You can use that time to brush your teeth, meditate, fill out a journal, or planner. Just make sure that you are prohibiting the use of your phone consistently at a set time and you should be all set!

For me I have found that reading a book helps me to fall asleep faster. I'll have a reading lamp on with essential oils to help relax me. I'll listen to a meditation podcast or some kind of podcast. Listening to some soothing music helps me to fall asleep faster as well. Having the room cold and dark always helps with falling asleep faster. I delete apps that I like to look at before bed and that way I am not tempted to go on them and stick to my bedtime routine. It can be hard, but doable if you make it a habit.

Using a phone can be extremely addicting especially at night. It is a vicious cycle where the phone causes you to have insomnia and makes it very hard to sleep afterwards. For me, I try to at least close my eyes by listening to stuff on my phone rather than watching stuff. It makes it much easier to realize when I should go to sleep from there where I can feel myself drifting away from whatever is playing on my phone. Another way to help cure your "phonecausesyounottosleep" problem is by simply setting a hard deadline for yourself to put the phone down (this wont work for me but maybe it could for you haha). you could enforce this by putting the phone out of reach at a certain time.

I'd begin by stating to yourself what will be the last thing you will do on your phone. That can include watching one last tiktok, reading one last post on social media platforms, or concluding a texting conversation that you're having with a friend/loved one. From there, do your best to hold yourself to the agreement you've made with yourself. This can not only help you move into the process of going to sleep, but also works as a way to build trust within yourself. For me, the last thing I do on my phone/computer/ipad is press play on my sleeping sounds playlist which signifies to myself that it is time to fall asleep. Prior to this though, I usually watch Netflix, but once the episode that I am watching concludes, I won't continue into another episode.

A good way is to disable notifications entirely and setup a sleep mode so that each night it automatically goes silent at exact same time until morning when notifications will automatically turn on again. This way you will not have to set it each day. I have also setup automatic night display mode in which after 9pm the display brightness is lower and the white is more yellow to calm my eyes. If you want to use your phone before going to bed, do it outside your bedroom and after you go to bed leave it away. This way you are separating sleep and relaxation from other activities.

I can understand how this must be a concern. I can relate to some extent, but mine is not out of compulsion or addiction. I have trouble sleeping on my own unless I'm extremely tired. So I have to put on Netflix, or TedTalks to focus my mind and prevent it from going into a train of thoughts which then does not allow me to go to sleep. So practically I do put my phone down, I plug in the earphones and rely on the audio mostly because usually I keep playing the same TV shows again and again so the audio does the job on it's own. However, if you concern is social media, then I would say delete the damn app. It's not worth, TBH. I deleted my social media, and it had a short term affect, but it had helped me from unnecessary anxiety. So focus on what's really benefitting you.