Do you ever feel so exhausted, burnt out, and unable to focus, but you're only halfway through the day?

In today's age of technology, gadgets make our life so much easier. Smartphones and tablets started popping up around mid 2007 and since then, they've become an essential part your life. You use them in school, at work, home, for entertainment, in the car to navigate, to do online banking, video-call with family - the list goes on.

As great and useful as these screens are, they're also the reason why you're feeling more drained than you did 10 years ago. A typical day for a smartphone user looks something like this:

You wake up and the first thing you do is check your phone - messages and social media. You get ready, eat breakfast, drive to work. There, you're most likely spending some time, if not all, in front of a computer. Throughout the day you'll send and receive various messages, make phone calls, and occasionally check to see what's new on Facebook. You then head home, unwind, maybe turn the TV on, make dinner, eat, and relax. Or maybe continue more work from home. You'll wrap up your day checking your phone one last time before calling it a night.

It's the increasing amount you spend looking at a screen that makes you tired, strains your eyes, and in extensive cases makes you feel sick. You're concentrating so much of your valuable time and energy on that tiny rectangular screen without realizing that it's the reason for that headache or your crabby mood.

I'm not telling you to completely cut out the use of your phone or computer, because let's be real, that's not realistic and most of our jobs revolve around computer work.

I'm saying cut down on the unnecessary time you spend on your smartphone. Wait to be out of bed and dressed before you check your phone and just check it for the essential messages, don't spend fifteen minutes on social media. Call your friend or co-worker instead of texting them. Go for a walk or bake something instead of hanging out on Facebook. And most importantly, power-off well before going to bed because bright light exposure in the dark just before sleep disturbs your internal body clock and sets you up for an exhausting and unproductive following day.

Try that this weekend -- minimize your screen use and you'll immediately feel more productive, energized, and happier.