We’ve all been there. Doomscrolling until 3 am. Watching YouTube in a pitch-black room. Playing mobile games while tucked up in bed.<\/p>\n
It’ll be no news to you that smartphones disrupt our sleep<\/a>, but you’ve also probably built an uneasy equilibrium between your phone and your bed.<\/p>\n Solutions depend on your needs, but I’ve found the ideal balance that lets me use my phone late at night without feeling guilty.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n \t\t A good night’s rest is just a few automations away<\/p>\n Automatically mute notifications at night, and manually enable them in the morning<\/p>\n Don’t distract yourself before you sleep<\/p>\n I often wind down at night by reading on my phone.<\/p>\n When set up correctly (more on this later), it doesn’t disrupt my sleep pattern at all. If I open one of my e-reader apps, chances are that I’ll fall asleep half an hour later.<\/p>\n However, a notification ruins this routine by disrupting the relaxed state of mind I’m in while reading.<\/p>\n I didn’t like the idea of muting my notifications at first, so I experimented with different settings.<\/p>\n I tried muting notifications for non-essential apps and games, and I used the Notification organizer feature on my Pixel to group and silence low-priority notifications.<\/p>\n However, none of these methods solved the problem. Eventually, I had to resort to muting notifications entirely.<\/p>\n Bedtime mode<\/a> on my Pixel phone mutes notifications on an opt-out basis. By default, some apps will interrupt (such as, Clock for alarms), but most other apps are muted. <\/p>\n Bizarrely, some notifications, like Google Play Services’ alert for local Wi-Fi, were enabled, but I was easily able to turn them off.<\/p>\n The exact way this feature works depends on your device, but always set it to turn on automatically at a preset time. You can always manually adjust it if you’re out late or going to bed earlier.<\/p>\n Enabling Bedtime mode is a start, but it didn’t fully resolve the problem for me.<\/p>\n One of my worst phone habits was picking it up and scrolling through notifications when I woke up.<\/p>\n Bedtime mode is set by default to turn off when your alarm goes off, but this meant I was immediately greeted with a flood of notifications when I turned off my alarm.<\/p>\n Therefore, I set Bedtime mode, so I had to turn it off manually.<\/p>\n I’ll discuss healthier ways I use my phone, but I want to make it clear that managing my notifications had the most significant positive effect on my sleep.<\/p>\n If you don’t do anything else, set up Bedtime mode and stop it from re-enabling notifications when your alarm goes off.<\/p>\n Build a collection of sleep-friendly apps<\/p>\n There are plenty of apps that are easy on the eyes<\/p>\n I mentioned earlier in this article how I read on my phone before I go to sleep.<\/p>\n Most e-reader apps are built with blue-light filters<\/a>, dark modes, and other night-time-friendly features. <\/p>\n They’re the perfect way to wind down before you go to sleep, but if reading isn’t your thing, there are other apps you can use instead.<\/p>\n Find apps and games that don’t rely on color to work.<\/p>\n I’m a big fan of the NYT Games app, so I’ll occasionally wind down with a puzzle before bed.<\/p>\n Audiobook apps are also helpful, as I can set them to stop playing automatically.<\/p>\n Otherwise, I might jot down a few creative ideas in a notes app or play with a pixel art app for a bit.<\/p>\n Playing relaxing games might seem like the best way to wind down, but they will often expose you to more blue light, which can disrupt your sleep.<\/p>\n It’s why I tend not to use color-based games as part of my nighttime routine.<\/p>\n Regardless of which apps you choose, place them on your home screen and move the others to the app drawer or another screen.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/woman-sleeping-bed-google-home.png\"\/)
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\n\t\t\t3 Google Home automations that improved my sleep
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