We are surrounded by stress it seems and it is hard to evade it and even harder to deal with it once it strikes, so we need to work out some coping strategies to handle it.

One of our main stressors is our phones. Think how many times you check your phone each day, it can be up to 80 times, and the burden of having to reply or match what has been posted is often a big strain.

Some research also suggests that they might be making us less intelligent due to the amount of distraction they cause, and may mean that we run out of brain space! A test indicated that people performed 5% better without their phones than with them.

Try and avoid your phone for the first hour of each day. That might mean getting yourself an old fashioned alarm clock and charging your phone in a different room, definitely not by your bed. Turn off all beeps and notifications so they don’t distract you. Check it at set times during your day.

You may be able to check how much time you spend on your phone.On certain phones there is a setting which tells you how much screen time you’ve used each day. You might be surprised.

Give it a trial for a day and notice the effect it has on you. It may make you more stressed by not being able to check it so often at first, but you could feel much better once you’ve got used to the idea.