Doctor warns morning habit can have a detrimental effect on your health

We all know that getting up and catching some natural light or taking a nice morning stroll is a healthy way to start the day.

But medical experts are warning about one habit that many of us are guilty of - reaching for our phones right after we wake up.

It shouldn't surprise you that phones have never been good for our health, from tech neck to not allowing us to fully separate ourselves from work.

But checking your phone first thing in the morning is a recipe for disaster.

According to Dr. Jane Bowring, a naturopathic doctor, this habit can be a bit too much for our nervous system, causing our metabolism to slow down as well as giving us headaches.

Checking our phones when we wake up could be causing us metabolic issues / Catherine Falls Commercial / Getty

Sharing her expertise on TikTok, she warned: 'You don't want to do this, this is going to raise your dopamine levels which is very overstimulating to your brain and your nervous system.'

'Too much calcium [can] flood into your cells via VGCC (voltage-gated calcium channels) requiring more magnesium to counter that balance of that calcium flooding in,' the health expert explained.

As a result, this can 'affect your metabolism for the day, your energy levels, and you could be getting headaches from those EMFs.'

Another health issue from using our phones when we first wake up is caused by the exposure to blue light.

The blue light emitted from smartphones can 'mess with your circadian rhythms' as looking at it tricks our brains into thinking it's '12 noon.'

Much research has shown that blue light stimulates wakefulness in the brain, increasing both our body temperature and heart rate. But, if exposed to it the wrong time, it can detrimentally affect our sleep and wake cycles.

Dr. Bowring warns smartphone users about the dangers of blue light exposure at the wrong times / Highwaystarz-Photography / Getty

Waking up naturally, without the stimulation of our smartphone, allows our brain to transition smoothly from the 'theta and delta' sleep stages to the 'alertness of the beta stage.'

This gradual waking process allows our body to adjust its hormone levels, regulate blood pressure, and prepare for the day ahead.

Another study looked at how common this bad morning habit actually is.

A study by IDC Research, sponsored by Facebook, studied 7,000 people aged 18 to 44 with smartphones. The results found that 80% of people reach for their phone within the first 15 minutes of waking.

Out of that 80%, 62% reach for the phone immediately after waking while 44% use the phone as an alarm clock.