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The Healf Source
Jeff Bezos Avoids His Phone For An Hour Every Morning - Neuroscience Proves It’s A Smart Move
Jeff Bezos swears by a no-screen morning routine, and neuroscience backs him up on it. This article explores the evidence for reducing screen time in the first hour of the day in improving focus, decision-making, and the health of your brain for years to come. Leaving your phone out of sight in the morning could be the smartest move you make this year.
Written by: Pippa Thackeray
Written on: February 4, 2025
Why Bezos leaves his phone alone each morning
Bezos is known for making decisions with a long-term mindset. It is a logic applied to his mornings, too, by all accounts.
While other CEOs are firing off emails at dawn, he’s “puttering”. Reading the paper, slowly sipping hot coffee, or eating breakfast with family. Basically doing anything but staring at a screen.
His fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, recently confirmed their shared rule: “We don’t get on our phones. That’s one of the rules.” And Bezos himself has not kept his beliefs on the matter a secret. The latest research suggests he might be right about his slow-burn mornings leading to sharper thinking, better energy, and better decision-making throughout the day.
What screens are doing to your brain
Around 90% of us pick up our phones before we’ve even left bed, or even lifted our heads from the pillow.
Yet, being aware that the first hour of the day sets the tone for everything that follows, is a major factor in Bezos’ preferred routine. He chooses to spend it away from his phone, and the science behind this decision is particularly persuasive.
Screen exposure first thing forces the brain into high alert before it’s even had a chance to wake up properly. According to the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Program, jumping straight into this incredibly common type of digital stimulation interferes with the brain’s natural waking process, making it harder to think clearly and react with the best intention. The cumulative and incremental effects of this are also to blame.
“If you scrolled on your phone in bed for an hour just one morning, the negative impacts would be minimal. But if it becomes a habit, day after day, month after month, this behaviour can take a toll.”
— Maris Loeffler, Family and Marriage Therapist
Screen exposure as a morning habit changes the brain over time
The more regularly the day begins with scrolling, the more memory and learning pathways are disrupted. When we consider the grey matter volume in the brain, used primarily for cognition and decision-making, we can see the gradual decline and the way in which long-term exposure has even been linked to an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia and Parkinson’s. To put this into context, on a more immediate level, screen-heavy mornings contribute to heightened stress, poor sleep, and attention fatigue.
Maris Loeffler, a researcher at Stanford, describes this well: “Passive screen time is like eating sugar but for your brain. It feels good in the precise moment, but it’s not providing real nutrition.” This analogy reflects that it is a quick hit, but with diminishing returns.
In this way, Bezos is inspired to do almost anything else instead of the phone-time trap. Moving, reading, easing into the day, these are all things that might seem, perhaps, like an insignificant variation, but when you pull together the evidence, this swap is one that clearly protects the brain from being dragged in a hundred different directions before it’s even had a chance to catch up.
Intentionality plays a big role in forming a clear picture of where you place your attention on a day-to-day basis. Bezos’s morning is tailored to his lifestyle, but the method involving ditching screens for the first hour, is open to your personal creative license.
Here’s how to reclaim your morning the Bezos way:
Indeed, the first hour of your day shapes the rest of it. Filling that time with something useful, rather than passively reacting to notifications, means better focus, sharper thinking, and steadier energy, even a lighter mood.
Reclaiming your morning in five stages:
- Keep your phone out of reach – If it’s next to you, you’ll pick it up without thinking. Do charge it in another room. Studies show that checking a screen first thing disrupts memory and learning pathways. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind.
- Step outside first thing – Morning light resets the circadian rhythm, improving sleep, mood, and alertness. Exposure to natural light early in the day is also linked to better mental clarity and helps protect grey matter volume, which prolonged screen exposure depletes.
- Hydrate before caffeine – The brain and body need water after hours of sleep. Dehydration contributes to stress and attention fatigue, which makes it harder to concentrate. A glass of water first thing gives your system what it actually needs.
- Engage your mind properly – Read, write, plan, or something else that encourages deeper thinking. Screens push the brain into a reactive, fragmented state, while slower activities allow for better focus and improved memory retention.
- Move, even if only a little – Stretch, go for a short walk, or take a few deep breaths. Physical movement stimulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein required for cognitive function, which excessive screen time has been shown to reduce.
Making space for mindful meals in your morning
It’s also worth remembering the importance of eating without a screen. Scrolling through emails or social media while eating increases stress and impairs digestion and nutrient absorption. A meal without distraction supports digestion and keeps cortisol levels in check, so it is recommended you take this into consideration for every meal.
The art of steady momentum
Dr Rangan Chatterjee's 3Q Journal
Dr Rangan Chatterjee is a great believer in a back-to-basics morning routine. On social media, he makes a great case for simplifying the labyrinth of information out there about what makes a good morning routine. And with this handy journal you can tap into this elemental process.
This wellness-oriented alarm clock gradually wakes you with brightening light, boosting energy and mood while promoting healthy sleep patterns, helping you start your day without mindlessly turning to a bright, blue light screen to “do the job”.
Phone down, time to recharge differently…
Jeff Bezos might have all the resources in the world, but his no-screen rule is one that costs nothing and delivers on many deeper levels. How you spend that first hour really matters. You can think of it as the launchpad that both your brain and body use for the rest of your day.
That said, this article is not intended to simply glorify Bezos’s (or any other “tech titan’s”) schedule. It is, however, about claiming those first moments for yourself and what you need as a unique being. Call it brain maintenance, sanity preservation, you name it, but a mindful start is how you stop the day from owning you before you’ve even had breakfast. Say “no more” to the infamous snowball effect.
Shop MIND at Healf and find the tools to craft a morning routine that’s yours to own.
This article is for informational purposes only, even if and regardless of whether it features the advice of physicians and medical practitioners. This article is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice. The views expressed in this article are the views of the expert and do not necessarily represent the views of Healf
Pippa is a content writer and qualified Nutritional Therapist (DipNT) creating research-based content with a passion for many areas of wellbeing, including hormonal health, mental health and digestive health.
As a contributor to The Healf Source, she regularly attends seminars and programmes on a plethora of contemporary health issues and modern research insights with a drive to never stop learning. In addition, interviewing experts and specialists across The Four Pillars: EAT, MOVE, MIND, SLEEP.
In her spare time, she is an avid swimmer, mindfulness and yoga lover, occasionally bringing a raw, honest approach to the topics she faces. You may also discover some personal accounts of eye-opening wellbeing experiences amidst the reality of a disorientating, and often conflicting, modern wellbeing space.
