Managing Email

If you are reading this blog right now, that means that you are not— at least at this particular moment — checking your email. This may be a good thing. A study noted in The New York Times found that the more often you check your inbox, the more generally stressed you may become. This may seem counter-intuitive, as frequent checking can feel like a way of preventing emails from piling up in a stress-inducing way. However, the research suggests that handling the same total amount of emails with fewer inbox checks is a less stressful experience overall. In fact, the degree of stress reduction found was comparable to the degree of benefit generally gained from relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or peaceful imagery visualization. An additional benefit found was increased efficiency. The study participants who checked email less frequently actually handled their emails in a shorter amount of time.
 
Maximizing time and maximizing well-being are goals that most of us probably share. With evidence suggesting a simple way to do both, it may be well worth resisting that urge to click.