The first thing you do when you wake up is the first thing that spikes your cortisol - the stress hormone that is supposed to rise gradually, not like an explosion. That is the conclusion of a new analysis by psychologists at the Complutense University in Madrid, who say: looking at your phone the moment you open your eyes flips your brain "in seconds from a state of recovery into a state of alarm". Not recommended.

Why does this happen? The phone, as Professor Alfredo Rodriguez-Munoz explains, is "a psychological extension of our social, emotional and working life". The brain anticipates a reward from notifications - a message from the boss, a like from someone, a number on the banking app - and because of that anticipated reward it immediately switches into top gear. No buffer, no pause.

Long term? Constant hyperconnectivity builds the feeling of "perpetual rushing, mental overload and psychological exhaustion," the study says. People become irritable, with fragmented attention, and with a constant sense that there is something they should be doing - even when their tasks are perfectly reasonable.

The fix is boring but effective: put the phone away for 15-20 minutes after waking. Natural light, movement, a light meal - those three simple things are enough for the brain to wake up as a human, not as a computer in operating mode. Of course, that means leaving the phone outside the bedroom. That is the discipline both Western and Balkan life equally avoid.