Neither On Your Nightstand Nor On The Bed: Here's The Best Place To Charge Your Phone

A lot of us do it. We come home, we get ready for bed, then we throw our phone on the nightstand next to us as we sleep. Some of us even sleep with it on the charger — though there's a lot of back and forth about why charging your phone overnight might be bad. Others, still, fall asleep watching YouTube or scrolling through TikTok. However, the best place to put your phone at night might not be in the bedroom at all. Instead, you should put your phone outside of it.

Over the years, many have discussed where people should keep their phones at night. A lot of this comes down to just how "dangerous" the radiation and light that phones give off can be to your sleep cycles. The other, more immediate concern, is the risk of fire that keeping your phone too close to your bed can bring.

While modern smartphones have come a long way in how they handle heat distribution — some devices like the OnePlus 13 feature very efficient vapor chambers to help cool the phones — falling asleep with your phone under the covers or your pillow can severely cut off ventilation. If you're charging your device, this heat generation increases and has even led to phones catching on fire in the past. That's why it's highly recommended to charge your phone in a well-ventilated area, like a flat countertop or table, away from anything that might keep cooler air from reaching it.

Of course, depending on whom you ask, keeping your phone close can be good or bad. There are many people who use their phones as a white noise machine to help with falling asleep, and even more who use their phone as their alarm clock in the morning. These are obviously ways that they can benefit how we sleep. But researchers say that there may be many negative issues when it comes to keeping your phone in the bedroom.

Beyond the concerns around radiation and fire, many people believe phones can also affect the quality of your sleep by delaying when you fall asleep. That's because distractions on your phone — like apps, games, and even messages from friends — can help keep your brain from reaching a state of rest, which would reduce your overall quality of sleep.

Keeping your phone close to your bed — on your nightstand, or even on the bed itself — is just an easy way to fall into the trap of using it right before you try to sleep. Studies like that performed by the Frontiers in Physiology explored the downsides of blue light exposure right before bed, leading to experts recommending you turn your screens off completely at least two hours before you go to bed. Ultimately, the best place to charge your phone is going to be somewhere outside the bedroom with good ventilation. You might even want to set up a designated charging area, where you and your family can charge your devices without worrying about them compromising your sleep.