It’s not news—we, as a society, have an addiction. This addiction causes withdrawal, salience, difficulty focusing, boredom, and dopamine dysregulation, just to name a few (of many) adverse side effects. It’s readily available, has become vital to everyday life, and is probably within your reach at almost every moment of the day.

You’ve probably caught on to what I’m referring to. Our smartphones have begun to shift from a tool to aid communication to a drug that helps us escape reality. Every time you pick up your phone to scroll, you reward your brain with a little spike of dopamine—which sounds great, right? Who doesn’t want a little dopamine hit? The problem lies in the dysregulation that occurs with constant, tiny dopamine hits throughout the day. What goes up must come down. This roller coaster of dopamine highs and lows causes the addiction and keeps us reaching for our phones every few minutes.

Study after study (such as this one from the National Institutes of Health) shows that decreased screen time increases overall well-being. It’s for this reason that we at Power Life ask you to store your phone in a locker or cubby outside of the studio space. (It’s not just because we’re being mean!) We know this is a challenge—after all, we just said we all share this addiction—so why do we ask? There are a few important reasons:

Nervous System Reset:
The dopamine roller coaster can fry your nervous system. We offer you 45 minutes to an hour to move in tandem with your breath, bring awareness to your body in space, get your heart rate up, and enjoy the community around you. Essentially, you’re hitting the reset button on your nervous system. Exercise gives you endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine—hormones that make you happy! (Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands!) Re-regulating these hormones leads to better mental health and overall well-being.

Safety:
Your safety in class is our number one priority. If you’re distracted by a phone notification, you might miss a cue from your instructor that was intended to keep you safe in the exercise.

Respect for Your Fellow Students’ Space and Privacy:
When you post photos or videos in class, you don’t have your fellow students’ permission to put them online. (Just look at what happened at that Coldplay concert!) The students around you have chosen to be in a screen-free space, and we ask that you respect that.

Respect for Your Instructor:
Every instructor at Power Life works hard to create a welcoming space. They spend hours crafting sequences and playlists—we ask that you be present and honor their effort.

Community:
Don’t rob yourself of the chance to meet someone new! The community at Power Life is second to none. You’ll thank yourself for leaving your phone in the locker room and connecting in real time. (You can always grab their number after class!)

We truly appreciate you respecting the no-phones-in-the-studio policy and can’t wait for you to experience what just a little time away from screens can do for you.

Have you cut back on screen time in other areas of your life? Let us know how you did it and what it’s done for you in the comments!