Many CEOs, such as Tim Cook of Apple and Indra Nooyi of Pepsi, brag about their rigorous morning rituals. Not Bezos. The founder of Amazon is well-known for spending the first few hours of the day… puttering.
Bezos’s no-screen morning routine
In a 2018 speech at the Economic Club of Washington, Bezos outlined his typical morning routine. It entails having breakfast with his family, reading the paper, and sipping coffee. What does his “puttering time” exclude, do you know? examining his phone.
Lauren Sanchez, Bezos’s fiancée, stated in a recent interview with People that her partner is still dedicated to leisurely mornings, saying, “We do not get on our phones.” One of the rules is that.
For what reason has Bezos prohibited screen time during the first hour after waking up? His one-hour rule probably stems in part from personal taste. According to experts, we perform better when our routines respect rather than interfere with our unique rhythms because we are all wired differently when it comes to our varying energy levels and tolerance for stimulation.
But according to Bezos, his puttering does more than simply make him happier. He claimed in the same 2018 speech that his phone-free, slow-burning mornings boost his energy levels and decision-making skills throughout the day.
According to the most recent neuroscience research, he may have a point with this assertion. Smarter, healthier days result from fewer online mornings, and recent research strongly suggests that more people should adopt Bezos’ one-hour rule.
The result of too much screen time is this.
“Scrolling through your phone for an hour in bed one morning would have very little negative impact. However, this behavior can have negative effects if it becomes a habit, day after day, month after month,” according to a recent blog post from the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Program’s Maris Loeffler.
Modern life would be impossible without phones. You can easily overdo it, and you cannot avoid them. The Stanford article summarizes a number of recent, rather alarming neuroscience findings regarding the negative effects of prolonged screen time. Among them are:
- According to one study, adults’ increased screen time may be detrimental to their mental, cognitive, and memory abilities.
- According to a different study, adults who watched TV for five hours or more a day were more likely to develop diseases of the brain like Parkinson’s or dementia.
- Additional research indicates that adults who use screens for two or more hours a day outside of work have smaller gray matter volumes in their brains.
Excessive screen time has been connected to back pain, sleep issues, and eye issues in addition to its detrimental effects on the brain. Overall, it paints a rather depressing picture of the harm that our shared obsession with phones is causing to our bodies and minds.
For your brain, passive screen time is similar to eating sugar. You want it now because it “tastes” good, but you are not really feeding yourself. “Your brain is not getting any nourishment,” concludes Loeffler.
How to avoid checking your phone in the morning
What are the best tips she and other professionals can offer to help us all set healthy screen time limits? That is Bezos’s one-hour rule.
In addition to stating bluntly that “Stanford Lifestyle Medicine experts recommend no screen time for the first hour of the day,” the blog post provides a list of additional brain-healthy activities that you can do in the first hour of the day (I have included links to additional information about the advantages of each).
- Work out
- Give a friend or relative a call.
- Make a nutritious breakfast.
- Engage in meditation
- Play some music.
- Compile a list of gratitude.
- Go through a book.
- Go outside and enjoy the morning light.
“How would you like the energy and mood of your day to begin?” Loeffler queries. A deliberate morning routine that incorporates lifestyle medicine choices rather than screen time “supports brain health and cognitive enhancement and sets a positive tone for the day.”
Jeff Bezos would not be surprised by that. For years, he has been using the best practices from neuroscience to create a morning routine that improves his brain function. Perhaps we should all put down our phones in the morning and follow suit.
