It affects your sleep, workouts, and more.
The science:
If you often grab your phone when you’re unoccupied (in the waiting room, on your commute), you’re not alone: University of Washington researchers found idle time is one of the biggest triggers for the habit. Many people reported that they gained nothing from scrolling, indicating that it’s a poor use of time.
Expert insight:
All day long, you process information from meetings, emails, and conversations. Further stimulating your brain during every free moment causes your body to release stress hormones including cortisol, which can negatively impact things like sleep and workouts, says Adrian Gaskin, a Tier 3+ trainer and master instructor at West Georgia Street in Vancouver, Canada, who specializes in positive habit change.
You need moments of true silence to balance out the noise, he adds. The minutes you spend in the elevator or at the table before your friend arrives are the perfect opportunities to enjoy that quiet.
The bottom line:
To make better use of downtime, skip the screen and focus on your breath instead, Gaskin says. Inhale through the nose into your diaphragm, pause, then follow with a long exhale through the mouth. This supplies more oxygen to the body, relieving tension, relaxing your nervous system, and helping you feel more clear-headed.
Photo: Serge Guerand / Blaublut-Edition.com