I had too many tabs open on my brain

LISA SNOWDON TALKS TO LAUREN TAYLOR ABOUT PHONE ADDICTION AND THE PERILS OF BURNOUT

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SHE is a familiar face on our TV screens but presenter and model Lisa Snowdon reveals she felt “out of control” and “massively overemotional” at the end of last year.

“I had too many tabs open on my brain,” says the 53-year-old, who regularly offers her fashion advice on ITV's This Morning.

“Everything got on top of me, I was trying to do too much and saying yes to too many things. I wasn't listening to my body. I felt overemotional, burnt out.”

Going on a 10-day digital detox retreat in Majorca in November helped Lisa to break the cycle and face up to her reliance on her smartphone.

“It was really quite tricky for a few days, then totally liberating. It’s almost like a constant battle,” she notes of her relationship with her phone. “Somebody will email me, I'll then check all my other apps. It’s a sort of addiction.

“I just completely switched off, which is great, but then you have to come back home and you have to get back into real life and try not to always just check your phone.

“My mental health gets really impacted when I’m just staring at the phone a lot.

“I don't have that clarity of thought, I feel a bit snappy. I notice my stress response in my shoulders, and I’m not able to kind of deal with stuff as well.”

This year Lisa has tried to cut back significantly on using her phone - particularly at nighttime.

“The hour or two before bed and in the morning, I don’t reach for my phone for at least half an hour. I think we need to wake up slowly and let the brain wake up, rather than bombarding it immediately.