How many hours a day of the week do you set aside..?
My rule is no more than 24 hours a day 
Never felt anxious about doing research , it helps me relax and gives me a chance to forget about everyday problems(and housework) for a few hours.
Also knowing what my ancestors had to deal with puts my problems into context.
I'm firmly in ev's camp.
It's been one of the few things which has totally absorbed my mind during the past 15 months since I was diagnosed with a serious health problem. Puzzle solving is recommended as a way of coping with Covid-related stress. Family history is like doing puzzles and jigsaws.
My English grandma caught "Spanish Flu" and survived. While looking at the family of one of my Irish GGMs in my grandad's townland this week, I noticed that an elderly man, who may have been GGM's brother, died in an earlier flu epidemic. The previous death registration on the page was a little girl in the townland who had diphtheria. GGM & GGF lived through several famines, including the Great Hunger + a typhus epidemic, both surviving until around age 90.
Last week I followed a maternal English line back to 1697 (2 female ancestors had a rare, local 1st name, they lived in hamlets + moved only a few miles in 150 years) and was pleased to add another octogenarian to my tree.
