5 days without emails: Constant emails cause stress

Numerous employees feel that e-mails are a nuisance in their everyday work. One thing is clear: anyone who lets Outlook and Co. dictate the daily routine will always feel that they are unproductive and externally controlled. Advice on structured time management and special tools can help you to focus again.

While this topic has mostly been about productivity and distraction, US researchers have looked at the health effects of an email break. The results of the studies by scientists from the University of California and the US Army show that cutting off your email account not only makes you more focused and therefore more productive, it also significantly reduces personal stress.

The 13 study participants worked with heart rate monitors for five days without email, a software documented how often they alternated between different screen windows during this time. Email readers switched back and forth between screen windows twice as often as email pausers. The heart rate of the test subjects with e-mail reception was consistently high in a state of alert, that of those without e-mail varied more, which the study authors call a more natural state.

“If you cut employees off from receiving e-mail, their multitasking behavior is reduced and they feel less stressed,” says computer science professor and study author Gloria Mark, commenting on the results. The test subjects with e-mail reception switched an average of 37 times per hour between screen windows. The email-less did this only 18 times an hour. The subjects themselves felt better able to do their tasks without email access, because they were less exposed to stressful and time-consuming distractions.

Study author Gloria Mark reports that it would not have been easy to find participants for this study. However, during the email-free period, the test subjects would have enjoyed their daily work without emails, especially if the supervisor had given them their consent. “The test subjects were more satisfied to be in direct contact with other people again,” says Mark. But there was also a negative impact: The study participants reported that the email pause made them feel somewhat isolated. In the experiment, they were provided with important information by colleagues who missed their email pause.

The study authors see potential in their results – also for the productivity of employees. In their opinion, companies should consider limiting the login times for emails or sending new messages bundled at certain times. In this way, employees would not be constantly distracted from incoming emails.

Study authors from A Pace Not Dictated by Electrons – an Empirical Study of Work Without Email are Gloria Mark and Stephen Voida from the University of California and Armand Cardello from the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. The U.S. Army and the National Science Foundation funded the study on the impact of email breaks. The U.S. Army is investigating the use of smartphones and e-mail applications for soldiers in war zones, the University of California said in a statement on the study results.