Are you always stressed at work? Perhaps the only thing you need is to change the way you check your e-mails.
There are two types of stress: the good and the bad one. When you're having more of the latter, then you know that you're in a dangerous state. Chronic stress can lead to inflammation, which then encourages a variety of serious disorders including type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer.
One of the biggest sources of stress is work. You may have a boss breathing down your neck, a long to-do list, and e-mails that just keep on coming.
According to a new research, however, by simply limiting your exposure to e-mails, you may tone your stress level down.
A team of researchers working in the University of British Columbia worked with 124 men and women as subjects. About 60% of them were in the university as either undergraduate or graduate students while other participants came from different industries including information technology and health care. They were then divided into two groups. One of the groups had no restriction as to the number of times they could check their e-mails; they checked their mails they use to do before they participated in the study.
Meanwhile, the rest should limit their e-mail checking to only 3 times a day. For a week, they stuck to the schedule then reversed the following week. While they're at it, they also monitored their stress level by answering a questionnaire.
Based on the results, if you want to drive your stress level down, it may be best to limit your e-mail checking to only 3 times daily.
Nevertheless, the researchers were very much aware that limiting e-mail checking is so much easier said than done. After all, they experienced it themselves.
The researchers then offered a few suggestions. For example, organizations may encourage replying to chunk instead of individual messages. It's also helpful if a person doesn't check e-mails on weekends.
