Recent studies show that office workers spend almost a third of their workday reading and responding to electronic mail. In today’s digital world, we’re often expected to be reachable by email, or social media at all times. This is simply stressful, and it may be bad for our health.

So why are we allowing this unsatisfactory situation to continue? Well, apparently, many of us are addicted: checking email activates a primal impulse in our brains to seek out what behavioural psychologists call “random rewards”. Imagine your email inbox as a slot machine. Most of the time when we “pull the lever” to check our messages, we get something bothersome – a complaint from a client, or another task from our boss. But every once in a while, we get something that brings a smile to our face, such as a note from a friend, or a funny video. It’s those “random rewards” that we find so addictive.

However, those messages which cheer us up may not be the only reason for checking our emails so often. Many of us feel anxious when our inboxes are packed, so we try to answer as many emails as possible immediately. But an empty inbox is an ideal that can rarely be achieved. Just when you think you’ve replied to the last message – ping! – a new one rolls in. So we must adopt a more realistic approach. Just like in many other areas of life, we have to choose what to deal with and what to ignore. When we try to do too many different things at the same time, we only end up feeling frustrated. To survive, we must set priorities.

Tim: When I was young, I knew I wanted to be a pilot, but I never imagined I would be an astronaut. My father had always been interested in aviation so from an early age I used to go to air shows with him. That’s when my fascination with flying began. After leaving school, I went to the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst and I graduated in 1992. Later that same year, I got my pilot’s licence and started flying army helicopters. 

Tim: Well, one day I saw an online advertisement for the European Space Agency. They were looking for people to work on their space missions and I decided to apply. As well as being an experienced pilot, I also had a university degree and I was healthy and in shape; so I met the main criteria and was admitted to the astronaut training programme. 

Tim: Yes, that’s right. And I was really lucky. About 8,000 people applied for just six places. 

Tim: For six months my job was to run important experiments on board the International Space Station, for example, on the Earth’s climate. Researchers also carried out tests on me. 

For instance, they studied my sleep patterns to learn how humans adapt to life without normal daylight. I think the highlight for me was when I went on a spacewalk to repair the Station’s power supply.