This research just blew up everything we thought we knew about using phones in bed.

Even though it's something we (try to) do every single night, who amongst us honestly isn't trying to 'hack' a better night's sleep?

Some of us swear by magnesium and relaxation supplements. Others invest in silk sleep masks, earplugs, white-noise machines and every gadget under the, well, moon that promises to lull us into a deep, restorative slumber.

The internet isn't short of sleep hygiene advice and sleep recommendations, there's one universal truth that's been drilled into our heads for years: that phones are destroying our sleep.

WATCH: The Mamamia team share the sleep hacks they swear by. Post continues below.

No screens an hour before bedtime! Blue light will ruin your circadian rhythm! Don't doomscroll on TikTok!

However, in excellent news for anyone in bed reading this article on their phone, turns out using your phone before bed might not be the sleep thief we thought it was.

Is using your phone before bed bad for sleep?

In a review of 11 studies from around the world, published in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews, and reported in publication Sleep Review, researchers found no evidence that screen light in the hour before bed makes it tougher to drift off.

And get this — it concluded screen use before bed only delays sleep onset by a mere 9.9 minutes.

"If we take a step back and look at everything that can negatively affect your sleep, we see that the effect of screens has been greatly exaggerated," the researcher's co-author, Michael Gradisar, PhD, head of sleep science at Sleep Cycle, concluded in a press release.

The New York Times recently highlighted a series of studies comparing screen use before bed with traditional "relaxing" activities. Interestingly, whether participants were gaming, streaming TV or reading on a Kindle, researchers found little to no difference in how quickly people fell asleep or how well they slept.

Along the same lines, the Sleep Foundation groups phones, tablets, TVs, fluorescent lights, LED lights and e-readers, in the same blue light-emitting category, meaning they're all essentially the same.

Does looking at a screen before bed impact sleep?

"The light itself probably isn't that bad for you." Image: Supplied.

Speaking to Mamamia's womens health podcast Well, Dr Jen Walsh, a sleep specialist from the Centre for Sleep Science at the University of Western Australia, confirmed our collective screen panic might be slightly overblown.

"Screens are always painted as bad, but it really depends on what you're doing on them," Dr Walsh said.

"If you're using your phone as a relaxation tool - like reading a book on your Kindle, or maybe you're doing a mindfulness exercise, some kind of relaxation exercise, maybe you're listening to music, maybe you're listening to an audiobook - the light itself probably isn't that bad for you. That's what the evidence is showing us."

Listen to the full interview on Well below, post continues.

Dr Walsh added even "high-energy" content like video games or action movies didn't show major differences in sleep outcomes when compared with calming content.

The real issue? Not the light. Not even the content. It's whether you can actually put the device down and the bedtime routine you create around phone use.

"Some people really struggle to switch off. That's when a cut-off rule - putting the phone away half an hour or an hour before bed - can be helpful."

Listen to The Quicky debunk the 'no phones in bed' theory. Post continues below.

What about sleep and having a TV in your bedroom?

According to Dr Walsh, "having a TV in the bedroom means you're going to be watching TV in bed. And that's something I wouldn't recommend."

"Lying in bed for too long while you're awake trains your brain to think it's OK to stay awake in bed — and that's not what we want. We want the bed to be a place your body associates with sleep."

So what does this all mean? The blue light from your phone isn't the sleep enemy we thought it was.

Instead, it's more about your habits.

If your bedtime Chat GPT convos are relaxing, it's probably fine. But if you're still staring at your phone at 1am with no plans to stop, your sleep will take a hit.

Hence, the advice to park your phone at the bedroom door.

Does this make you feel better about using your phone before bed.

Feature image: Getty.

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