Mail app freezes when typing on M2

I have an M2 MBA with 8Gb RAM running Tahoe 26.1

Since 'upgrading' to Tahoe, Mail has experienced intermittent 'freezes' when typing. I am a relatively fast typer, but not exceptional - but it feels as though Mail - and only Mail - simply can't keep up with what is being typed. Once or twice a day it simply hangs for up to 30 seconds while it thinks about what it wants to write.

Meanwhile, of course, I have been continuing to type, frequently making errors because nothing is appearing on screen, so I then need to go back and correct what has been written.

This only happens in Mail. According to Activity Monitor, Mail is using between 0.9 and 5.6% of CPU and 4.3Gb of Memory.

Any ideas out there?

Thanks