You knew this advice was coming: you really do need to have ironclad boundaries. That means making it clear to yourself and others exactly when you’ll down tools and won’t be contactable over email, Teams, Slack, whatever. It’s worth putting these working hours clearly in your email signature and status, so everyone’s aware of when they can expect a response. Then just make sure you stick to your declared timings.

“The mere expectation of a work-related email outside of working hours has been shown to increase the stress – and not just in you, but also in those close to you,” says Dedyukhina. “Checking your phone when you are with others takes away intimacy and sends them the message that you aren’t really interested in communicating with them, even if this is not your intention. In an experiment, people who had a conversation with a phone visible on the table rated their conversation partners as less interested in them, and the conversation as less intimate.

“Agreeing with yourself that you won’t be checking your inbox after a particular time of the day (and managing other people’s expectations about it) will help you and your friends and family feel more relaxed and closer to each other.”

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