Bad for your love life: this is what to do on your weekend

Life is simply organized in such a way that you work five days and have two days off. Usually, right? And when you are free as a bird on Saturday and Sunday, you have to be careful. About yourself.

If you secretly do something on your days off, well, then you have to watch out, because that would be detrimental to your love life. The culprit is checking emails. You should never do that outside of working hours, opening that whole bunch of a mailing list. Not only because it causes you more stress, but especially because your partner suffers from it. Then that weekend party is suddenly over quickly.

The problem is this. If you check your emails on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday evening, you probably don't think it's a big deal. Come on, just reply to that colleague, just track down that package, just cancel that appointment with the beautician... You don't care at all. But your partner does. In other words: you don't realize that you are being annoying, swiping and clicking through those forty thousand six hundred emails.

Research shows that most people don't realize when their partner finds them annoying. Partners of people who constantly check emails not only find it unpleasant, but also become more stressed because their partners get more stress from it. A circle, then. You think it can't hurt, so you do it. Secretly, you still get stressed from it, because suddenly that Monday morning deadline is looming at you, while it's only Sunday afternoon three o'clock. Unbeknownst to you, you have more stress, and your partner notices that. They become grumpy right away: ‘Work always comes first’, ‘You live with your laptop’, ‘Is that phone glued to your hand?’, that idea. Accusations quickly fly around the house, and before you know it, you long for that Monday with colleagues. Because home is no longer cozy.

So you can prevent it, that whole dreary mess. Emails off. Emails are forbidden on the weekend. Emails come back Monday morning, first thing at the office. Surprise your lover with a spontaneous massage when you feel the urge to click on that email app. It works wonders.