How to Improve Your Relationship with Email

A few nights ago, I forget to follow the rules that I’m about to outline, and checked my email right before going to bed. I read some messages and responded to a few of them. I also marked some of those that I had read as unread (a very easy hack for drawing the attention of your future self to emails that need re-reading.) Afterward, I spent around an hour in bed with my mind running nonstop, unable to fall asleep.

The experience did a great job reminding me why I try not to check my email late at night. I also refrain from checking email immediately after waking up. Doing either usually leads to anxiety, creative blocks, and sleeplessness.

To mitigate these issues, I try to create a one and a half to two hour, email-free buffer period after waking up and before going to bed.

When I do check my email, I like to check it all at once, instead of sporadically over the course of the day. I do this to combat the adverse effects of attention switching. To those of you who don’t think the effects of attention switching are detrimental enough to warrant not checking email randomly over the course of the day, I’d highly recommend reading this Business Insider article: Your IQ Drops 10 Points and Other Scary Side Effects of Frequently Checking Email.

Side note:

• In the hour prior to bed, in lieu of checking my email, I usually turn off all the electric lights in my room, light a few candles, and write down any thoughts that come to mind in a paper journal. I’ve gotten countless insights from this screen-free practice, and usually fall asleep within a few minutes after the candle-lit hour is over.