What is the first thing you look at or reach out for when you wake up in the morning? For many, it’s a phone, and most likely the last thing we spend most of our last minutes with before retiring to bed.

What we are unaware of however is that apart from being a sleep sabotaging habit, we also don’t even realise how these gadgets are affecting our sleep, according to experts.

Meanwhile, multiple research studies have concluded that smartphone use before bed is abjectly bad for our sleep. This is because it disrupts the production of the important sleep hormone melatonin and tricks one's mind into thinking it needs to stay awake.

To help curb this, health practitioners recommend that keeping your phone away 30 minutes before bed can do you good.

How to achieve this

Celestine Karangwa, a physiotherapist at TCM Technology Clinic in Remera-Kigali says one best way to avoid using a smartphone or any other smart gadget before sleep is to simply keep it off.

He says as easy as it might sound, it requires a lot of discipline to adapt to this habit. This, he says will come along with  clearing your bedroom of all devices, which will help you achieve the 30 minutes of gadget-free time before bed.

 "If this is tricky, which I believe is to most people, trying to leave your phone in a designated space in another room can help, and doing it regularly will become a habit that will bear fruit in the end,” he says.

Alternatively, he says that it’s also advised that one should also activate night more if keeping your phone completely is a hustle.

This, he says would mean that you are reducing screen effects. For instance, this could be converting the on-screen color spectrum from blue to yellow, which is supposed to be easier on the eyes and improve sleep. When it’s time to turn off the lights and go to sleep, the last thing our brain needs is more information and stimulation. When you use your phone a few minutes before sleeping, Karangwa says it has been shown that your mind can stay active and engaged long after, hence interfering with your sleep after, because of the light.

Meanwhile, studies have shown that the blue light emitted by your smartphone is bad for your vision but it can be bad for your sleep, too.

Francis Kazungu, a general practitioner in Kigali says the reason why it’s also good to stay away from your phone before sleeping is that at times one can come across content that can interfere with your emotions.

He says that when this happens, it can hinder your sleep as your mind won’t be at peace depending on what you have encountered a few minutes before sleeping.

Also, he goes on to note that this can result in stress and anxiety, which also are major things known for disrupting sleep.

 Even seeing something right before bed that makes you happy can trigger a response that prolongs falling asleep, which consequently delays REM sleep. These emotions can leave you staring at the ceiling for hours, feeling wide awake.

While smartphones are typically the main issue, Kazungu says, even tablets and TVs can contribute to poor sleep therefore, keeping them off is vital.