Disable email push notifications completely

Email is almost never genuinely urgent; check it on your schedule, not the sender’s.

Why it works

Email notifications produce the same interruption cost as other notifications but for a channel where almost no message requires a real-time response. The mismatch between urgency and notification salience is maximum for email: a 23-minute attention recovery cost for a message that could have waited six hours. Disabling email push removes this cost entirely without reducing the quality of any important response.

How to do it

1. Disable all email push notifications on mobile.
2. Process email at two or three fixed times per day — not continuously.
3. For anyone who genuinely needs real-time access to you, give them your phone number for urgent matters.
4. Set an auto-responder noting your processing schedule if your role requires it.

Evidence

A randomized crossover study found that reducing email-checking to designated times significantly decreased stress without affecting perceived productivity or effectiveness. (rct)

The trial used a three-times-per-day limit; the specific recommendation to disable push entirely extends the study’s intervention method.

Sources

• Kushlev & Dunn (2015), "Checking email less frequently reduces stress," Computers in Human Behavior

Common mistake

Disabling push but leaving the email app on the home screen — the app icon continues to function as a cue that triggers opening out of habit.