You get home from a long day at the office. Or you work from home, and call it a day.
Now what? Get dinner ready. Hustle a kid to practice. Meet up with friends. Do the laundry. Maybe even kick back and relax.
You’ve got a life outside of work, right? Then your phone buzzes. It’s an email from your boss or a client. And you feel compelled to respond.
So you swipe and type a quick message. Or you fire up your computer and squeeze in a few minutes of work. Sound familiar?
If you’re answering work emails after hours, it could be bad for your health.
In a recent study, researchers tracked the after-hours email habits of about 300 people. (1) The people who spent the most time on email after hours were more likely to be:
- Stressed out
- Unhappy
- Emotionally exhausted
- Have poor work-life balance
- Experience health problems
The trouble with chronic stress
Ever feel like work (especially responding to emails at all hours) is a major source of stress in your life?
It comes with a heavy price when it comes to your health. Research shows that chronic stress can take a toll on your health and happiness in many ways, such as: (2)
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Weakened immune system
- Digestive problems
- Certain types of cancer
- And other health problems
Are all those work emails stressing you out and keeping you up at night?
It has a name: Workplace Telepressure.
You might think you are being more productive by working extra hours at home. In fact, it can lessen how productive you are.
“The ‘always-on culture,” says lead researcher Dr. Liuba Belkin, “may prevent employees from fully disengaging from work, leading to chronic stress.”
Have workplace telepressure?
Talk to your supervisor. Set up an auto-responder to let people know you’ll reply later. Or just don’t respond after hours. Those emails will still be there in the morning.
Making a few adjustments to answering emails all the time might seem hard at first. But with a little practice you’ll lower your stress level, feel happier, and be healthier.
Source
- Belkin, L, et al. (2016). Exhausted, but unable to disconnect: After-hours email, work-family balance and identification. Academy of Management, 1:10353. From: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320790286_Exhausted_but_Unable_to_Disconnect_After-Hours_Email_Work-Family_Balance_and_Identification
- Harvard University. (2023). Stress. Harvard Health Publishing. From: https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/stress