The days are getting longer, and nights are getting hotter, and many of us are finding it a little hard to sleep at the moment. But it turns out it might be down to that pesky culprit on your bedside table.
Recent research out of the UK revealed one in four adults have trouble sleeping because they spend too long on their phones before bed, with 86 percent of Millenials surveyed saying they use their phones right before they go to sleep.
Fifteen percent of those in this 18-34 age group said they used their phone between 11pm and 3am.
The experts behind meditation app 'Calm' gave Metro UK some of their top tips to make your phone more sleep-friendly. While in an ideal world we'd all sleep without our phones, it's not always feasible.
Switch on night mode
It's a simple trick, and one I thought most people knew. However, a quick, unofficial poll around the newsroom showed that actually, many aren't aware that most smartphones have a setting that filters out the blue light. You can automate this to turn on at a certain hour of each day - preferably when the sun goes down so your body knows it's time to sleep.
If your phone doesn't have the setting, certain apps like Twitter and Reddit have a night mode, and app 'f.lux' can reduce the blue light on all devices it's downloaded onto.
Switch on 'Airplane mode'
Don't just do it when the flight attendant tells you to before takeoff, do it when you go to bed at night. It will turn off notifications, meaning you won't be getting informed that your cousin in London liked your post at 3am. But the alarm clock still works fine, so no fear about being late for work.
Track your usage (and limit accordingly)
While it can be terrifying, certain apps like 'Moment', 'Toggl' or 'Harvest', or even inbuilt features of your phone, track your usage time. If you find yourself on Twitter until the early hours of the morning, it might be useful to switch off activity from a certain time or after a certain number of minutes in an app.
