Dangers of checking your phone the instant you rise

I stumbled across a quote that made me pause and reflect upon it. It was simply, “Do you recharge yourself as much as you recharge your mobile phone?”

Isn’t it amazing to think that the moment we wake up, most of us reach for our phones and start processing messages from the external world?

What about looking after our internal world first?

Your store of willpower is at its strongest in the morning and it gets depleted like a muscle throughout the day.

If you reach for your phone the moment your eyes open, you could be draining your willpower, first thing in the morning, especially if you end up receiving disturbing or urgent messages.

The precious minutes you spend attending to that inbox ends up disrupting or eating into the healthy plans you might’ve had for exercise or doing something really productive for yourself the moment you get up.

In the mornings, during high-level willpower moments, it’s actually the perfect time to exercise or make positive decisions in your life.

I have a friend who strategically uses this special window of time to arrange to meet friends for a game of tennis or to book his favourite fitness classes and pay for them upfront to ensure he will actually show up for them.

The mornings are also an excellent time to meditate, which increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in planning, decision-making and regulating our emotions.

According to a study done at Harvard on the brains of meditators, it was discovered that the prefrontal cortex was thicker in people who engaged in regular meditation.

Hence, meditators are associated with increased brain power, willpower and the ability to better manage their emotions and response to stress.

It is also a well-established fact that the prefrontal cortex starts to shrink as we age (this is also linked to forgetting things as we grow older) but research conducted by Harvard neuroscientist Dr Sara Lazar discovered that brains of experienced mediators who were 50 years old had the same grey matter in the prefrontal cortex as 25 year olds.

We have unfortunately become so plugged in to the outer world, that we sometimes become disconnected from ourselves, and what’s really going on in our inner landscape.

It’s as though we’ve put everyone else first, when we should be putting ourselves, especially our physical and mental health.

When you look after “you”, you can look after everyone around you in a much better, calmer and more empowered space. It’s easier to give to others once we’ve given time and space to recharge our own batteries.

When you forget yourself and end up over-giving or focusing on your job, the kids or everyone else in your life first, you start to feel energy depletion.

The telltale signs could range from a build-up of resentment, burnout, irritability, a weakened immune system and even difficulty sleeping at night.

We know that during an emergency on an aircraft, a parent needs to wear the oxygen mask themselves first, before placing it on their children.

To know whether you are over-giving and whether it’s becoming unhealthy for you, simply check in with yourself.

Ask yourself some basic questions.

• Are you feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Giving out of joy should charge your spirits and make you feel good about yourself but over-giving makes you feel drained and tired.
• Do you struggle to say no? Be aware of negative, heavy feelings of guilt or obligation and give yourself permission to say “no” to unreasonable demands on your time and energy.
• Do you feel you never put yourself first? Do you keep pushing aside your own goals or delaying them?

If so, you need to start making yourself a priority, rather than focusing on everyone else. Respect your time and ensure you are spending enough of it doing the things you really want to do.

• Do you feel you have a tendency to over-do things? If you are pushing yourself too hard or too fast, learn how to slow down and consider setting aside some “me time” for daily morning meditations to clear the mind or actively choose activities that will bring you more relaxation and internal peace.

When you put yourself first, you start to develop an abundance of energy and self-love to help you deal with the rest of the world.

One of the best starting points begins from the moment you rise because this is a golden opportunity at the start of your day to get a regular meditation and workout regimen in place to get your heart, mind and soul into the right mental space to tackle the rest of your day.

So, this is a gentle reminder to self and to all of you to always find ways to love and respect yourself more each and every day. And set up healthy boundaries on your precious time.

When we practice self-love, everything just falls into place and we are able to deal with whatever comes our way with more positivity, resilience and strength.

Jojo Struys is the founder of ‘OHANAJO awake’, an online conscious platform to help people with their stress, anxiety and sleep. Enjoy daily meditations, yoga, sound baths and wisdom on the go in less than 15 mins per day. Please visit www.ohanajo.com for a free trial.