Reduce Stress By Checking Emails Less Often

In a new study published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour, researchers found that people feel less stressed when they check their email less often.

As part of the study, some of the 124 participants including students, financial analysts, medical professionals and others were instructed to check their email only three times daily for a week. The others were told to check their email as often as they could, which turned out to be about the same number of times that they would normally check their email. These instructions were then reversed the following week.

The participants answered brief daily surveys that included information about their stress levels during the study period.

According to Kostadin Kushlev, the study's lead author and a PhD candidate at The University of British Columbia (UBC)'s Department of Psychology, "Our findings showed that people felt less stressed when they checked their email less often."

The research also showed that it is hard for people to resist the temptation of constantly checking their emails. Researchers said that changing people's email routine may be difficult to change.

"Most participants in our study found it quite difficult to check their email only a few times a day," said Kushlev.

"This is what makes our obvious-in-hindsight findings so striking: People find it difficult to resist the temptation of checking email, and yet resisting this temptation reduces their stress," he added.

Kushlev said employee stress may be reduced by encouraging employees to respond to their messages in group rather than constantly checking their inboxes.