Research into 'that Monday morning feeling' in Estonia has sparked a debate in Latvia about how the changing nature of work has increased stress.

Research carried out by Estonia’s Tallinn Technical University carried out in 2009–2012 shows that the boundaries have blurred between working time and free time. When the research was published, Latvian journalists from the Dienas bizness daily newspaper decided to ask business people how opening their emails on a Monday affected their stress levels (in Latvian).

Among those questioned were Kārlis Cerbulis, Senior Vice-President of NCH investment fund; Linda Matisone, Chair of the Board of JSC Lauma Lingerie; Aigars Kaugars, Chair of the Board of Baltic Restaurants; and Sandra Gorbunova, Director of Later Ltd.

In January 2015, the newspaper reported that the business people they interviewed receive on average 100–200 emails every day. These accumulate over weekends, not only in work computers but also in mobile phones. If managers attempt to alleviate the stress of dealing with this traffic by reading their mail on days off, they then create the problem of permanent stress.

Some managers report that they deal with this by switching off devices on holidays, going to places where there is no connection to the internet, and refraining from reading e-mails on holidays and busy days. 

Some of respondents consider the increasing intensity of information flows are harmful, while others do not.

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