You’re running on low battery, kid. But you’re used to it, right? Your smartphone runs around 25% for a few hours, you charge it up for one, and it’s good to go for a few more. You yourself run on this smartphone mentality day after day, week after week, but you’re barely making it. Just like you can’t use Snapchat when your battery bar is red, you can’t be in the here and now with those around you when your eyes are droopy and your head keeps nodding. But it’s okay, you’re used to it. So is everybody else around you. Going all day, staying up into the wee hours of the morning, and rising early for 8 AM class is a normal part of life, right?
Now, I understand insomnia. I understand the inability to fall asleep. Trust me, I’ve dealt with that for years. But sometimes, just sometimes, we induce our insomnia. When we fix our eyes on our blue screens for hours each night as we lay in bed, we’re keeping our mind awake—we’re depriving our bodies from much needed rest. You might not think that it matters if you’re Tweeting or Netflixing into the late hours of the night, but it does. I used to be that person who goes to bed at 11 only to stay awake until 1 because of social media and Netflix. Not only did that limit how much sleep my weary self got, but it also made my sleep restless and unfulfilling.
This semester is my busiest semester thus far and it’s easy for my introvert battery to deplete itself very quickly. I get tired. I am tired. So, in need of sleep—sweet, sweet sleep—I decided to put my phone down and actually try sleeping. And then I did it again. And again. And my sleep has been just short of marvelous. Not only do I fall asleep better when I turn off my screen, but when I wake in the morning I feel more rested.
The thing is, if you make time to sleep, you’ll be more energized each day, but you’ll also still have time to check up on social media and Netflix. It’s not going anywhere while you sleep, you know. This time of our lives is an essential part to cultivating excellent habits to take with us into the rest of life.
I challenge you to try this for one week. Instead of scrolling on your phone for two hours while in bed, set your alarms for the morning, put your phone down, and close your eyes. If it doesn’t affect anything, okay. But if it does, great! Perhaps we’ll look a wee bit less like zombies when we’re glued to our phones during the day.
