Susannah Taylor: My phone-free start to the day

What do you do first thing in the morning – pick up your phone and scroll through Facebook in bed? Get into an argument on Twitter? Check your emails in case something life-changing has landed overnight? Get a bit depressed looking at Becky’s newly visible abs on Instagram?

You are not alone. According to statistics from Deloitte, more than a third of smartphone users check their phone within five minutes of waking in the morning. But what if we didn’t? Wellness experts are saying that not looking at our phones for two hours after waking can totally change our day for the better.

As the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma has shown, once we are logged into technology, we are almost powerless in the face of its invisible web of likes, noise and notifications. Mindset coach Alister Gray says that we are immediately thrown into a reactive state, which he says, ‘makes us feel disempowered and out of control for the rest of the day. Plus, it isn’t adding any value, or taking you closer to your dreams and ambitions, it just fills your brain with noise.’ If instead we resist the urge to pick up our phones, this puts us in charge. So when others are scrolling between 6.30am and 8.30am, Alister spends 45 minutes with his daughter and 45 minutes exercising, before meditating. The aim is to begin the day with a quiet inner dialogue that then threads throughout his waking hours: ‘It’s all about reducing the internal noise,’ he says.

Seeing the first few hours of the day as sacred is nothing new. The early morning is often said to be our most creative, and for me, with a side-hustle as an illustrator, I know that I do my best work first thing. Maeve O’Sullivan, founder of escapadahealth.com integrative health clinics and retreats, says that according to Ayurvedic principles, the early morning is the most spiritual time of the day and she recommends that her clients cherish this time rather than upsetting the flow with gadgetry. ‘Many of us wake up with a loud alarm and go straight on the phone, which sends us into fight-or-flight mode, when what our body really needs is stability and nourishment.’ Maeve suggests waking up the body slowly with meditation and deep breathing before having a warming breakfast.

Lately I’ve been practising the tech-free morning routine and I can confirm it’s a game-changer. My phone is no longer my alarm, and I leave it downstairs overnight (an alarm clock wakes me up). I then refrain from checking Instagram, and sit with a cup of tea quietly before getting my youngest daughter up. After breakfast and once my daughter is in pre-school I walk the dog or exercise – all phone-free. Occasionally I draw.

What have I found? I am definitely less frazzled, my brain feels more ordered and the best part is I have more time (and am therefore not racing about, sweating, trying to get out of the house). It has also given me some perspective on my tech usage generally, seeing it mostly as ‘noise’. Try it for yourself – if you are tempted by your phone, ask yourself if it will take you closer to what you love or your life goals. What’s on that phone that can’t really wait until 9am?

@susannahtaylor_

Something to smile about  

Did you know that 1.5 billion plastic tubes of toothpaste go into landfill or our oceans each year? This is the reason that three award-winning dentists have created Pärla, dehydrated toothpaste tablets that use no palm oil, sodium lauryl sulphate, and come in a recyclable glass jar. Pop one in your mouth, use a wet toothbrush and it dissolves into a minty paste. From £6.95 for 62, parlatoothpastetabs.com.

 

The fittest kit to pose with

Now that our homes are our gyms (as well as offices and home schools), it helps if our fitness kit isn’t a total eyesore. Enter shopbala.com, which creates equipment so stylish you’ll want to show it off. Favourites are the sleek 10lb Power Ring, around £73, that you can squat, swing and press with, and the Bala Bars, around £47 for two, which are so ergonomic and tactile you won’t want to put them down.