I don't know about you, but I get a little twitchy when I seeunread messages in my inbox. In fact, I often get an overwhelmingcompulsion to stop everything and check them out immediately.

After all, my prospects might be ready to close the deal. Or,they have an important question I need to answer right away.

Sound familiar? The truth is, most of us do suffer from emailaddiction. But in reality, what we're suffering from is dopamineaddiction.

E-mail addiction is a real problem

I know. I know. I sound pretty smart with all this brainresearch I've been quoting this past year. But, since it's highlylikely that you haven't been reading the latest neurosciencestudies, let me clarify what I mean.

Dopamine is a brain hormone that starts us seeking — looking outthere for something — and keeps us doing it.

Related: Are referral leads waiting in yourinbox?

If we're anticipating something and we're not sure when it'scoming, our dopamine system is immediately triggered. That's whywe're compelled to check e-mails if we're waiting to hear back fromprospects.

Here's another thing you need to know about our dopamine system.It gets activated when it gets a cue such as a notification orsound.

Like Pavlov's dogs, we start salivating. We can't wait a secondlonger — for whatever it is we're lusting after. We need tointerrupt what we're doing and find out what just happened.

Are you killing your sales productivity?

The worst thing is, when dopamine takes control of our brains,our productivity tanks. So does is our mental sharpness.

In one study, Dr. Glen Wilson, a psychiatrist at LondonUniversity, found that constantly checking emails and texts reducedwomen's IQ by 5%.

But for guys it was even worse. They lost 15 IQ points. That's awhole lot worse than the 4 point fall in IQ that you get fromsmoking pot.

If you want to be a smarter salesperson — and get more donein less time, then you need to kick the e-mail, or should I saydopamine addiction.

Here are several ways I control mine:

First off, batch your e-mail checking.Set a couple times during the day to look at and respond to emails.Believe me, you won't lose a deal because it took you an hour torespond.

Secondly, turn off all notifications— on both your computer and cell phone. The pings, the music,the numbers. All of it. This has been a godsend for me. I don'tkeep checking things any more. Instead, I keep my focus on the workthat needs to get done.

Fortunately, the urges do lessen but it's an ongoing battle thatwe have to fight one day at a time. Take a stand. Refuse to letdopamine rule your life. It really does make a difference.

Related: 4 tips to create must-read clientemails