CEOs who take great pride in their strict morning routines include Tim Cook of Apple and Indra Nooyi of Pepsi. Not Jeff Bezos. The founder of Amazon is renowned for using his morning hours to putter around.
The morning ritual of Bezos without a screen
In an address to the Economic Club of Washington back in 2018, Bezos outlined his typical morning schedule. Breakfast with his family, coffee, and reading the paper are all part of it. What does not come into his “puttering time”? keeping an eye on his phone.
Bezos’s fiance, Lauren Sanchez, stated in a recent interview with People that her partner is still dedicated to leisurely mornings, saying, “We don’t get on our phones.” There is a rule like that.
How come Bezos forbade using a screen for the first hour after getting up? He probably has a personal preference for his one-hour rule. Experts assert that since each of us has a unique set of neural pathways governing our varying energy levels and threshold for stimulation, we function best when our routines respect these patterns rather than interfere with them.
But according to Bezos, his puttering doesn’t simply make life more enjoyable for him. He stated in the same 2018 address that having slow-burning, phone-free mornings gives him more energy and helps him make better decisions throughout the day.
Recent neuroscience research says that he may have some validity to this assertion. Fewer internet mornings result in more intelligent, healthy days, and recent data strongly implies that more people ought to adopt Bezos’s one-hour guideline.
This is your brain with too much screen time.
“There wouldn’t be much of a negative impact if you spent an hour one morning scrolling through your phone in bed. However, this behavior might have negative effects if it gets ingrained day in and day out, as explained by Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Program member Maris Loeffler in a recent program blog article.
Cell phones are an integral element of contemporary life. They are unavoidable, and it is easy to overdo it. The Stanford essay compiles several recent neuroscience discoveries about the potentially deadly consequences of prolonged screen use. Among them are:
- An increased usage of screens by adults may be harmful to their mental, cognitive, and learning capacities, according to one study.
- A separate study found that individuals who watched TV for five hours or longer a day were more likely to acquire neurological conditions like Parkinson’s or dementia.
- There are further studies that demonstrate the reduced grey matter volume in the brains of adults who use screens for two or more hours a day outside of work.
Excessive screen time has been connected to detrimental consequences on the brain, including poor sleep, back pain, and eye issues. In summary, the overall impression paints a rather dismal image of the mental and physical damage caused by our communal fixation with our phones.
“Using screens passively is similar to consuming sugar, but for your brain.” Although you’re not truly feeding yourself, it “tastes” delicious and you want it right away. In essence, Loeffler says, “You’re not feeding your brain any nourishment.
What not to do in the morning when checking your phone
What is the best advice she and other professionals have to offer us all to help us reduce our screen time to healthy amounts? Just Bezos’s one-hour rule, nothing more.
The blog article simply states, “Experts in Stanford Lifestyle Medicine advise against screen time for the first hour of the day.” It then provides a list of alternative activities that are better for your brain in the first hour of the day (I’ve included links to further details on each activity’s advantages):
- Work out
- Give a friend or relative a call.
- Make a nutritious breakfast.
- Pray
- Play some music.
- Make a list of appreciation
- Read a book.
- Take a walk outside and enjoy the early light.
“How do you want your day’s energy and mood to start?” Loeffler asks. “Intentionally implementing a morning routine that reflects lifestyle medicine choices instead of screen time sets a positive tone for the day and supports brain health and cognitive enhancement.”
Which would not surprise Jeff Bezos in the least. He’s been using brain-boosting morning routines that follow the best practices of neuroscience for years. Perhaps we should all lay down our phones in the morning and follow suit.
(Tashia Bernardus)