Checking your overflowing Gmail inbox -- or sending out a message to an important business contact -- is a pretty surefire way to make your pulse quicken and your mind start racing with worries about deadlines and obligations. In fact, one study actually found that checking and sending email at work can increase your blood pressure and heart rate, and cause levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body to spike.

"People expect us to respond within 24 hours ... just handling the amount of email we get can be stressful," Dr. Lillian Cheung, mindfulness expert and editorial director of The Nutrition Source at Harvard, tells the Huffington Post. "But instead of getting stressed and overwhelmed with emails, I think it's an opportunity for us to refresh and restore ourselves."