Procrastination must be eliminated, as it will affect your health every day

“Tomorrow comes tomorrow, and there are so many tomorrows; I live to wait for tomorrow, and everything is wasted.” A “Tomorrow Song” tells the normal life of procrastinators. Do your homework later, do your work tomorrow, finish your tasks after the year… I believe everyone has had this thought, and this habit of handling things is not beneficial. A recent study conducted by a research team from the United Kingdom and Canada found that the more you procrastinate, the greater your stress will be. In addition to affecting your study, work, and life, it will also harm your health.

01、Procrastination is exhausting

Procrastinators often postpone actions, put off tasks until the last minute, or even exceed the deadline. However, they accidentally fall into the vicious circle of “procrastination-self-blame-pain-more procrastination”, and the whole person is often surrounded by pressure.

Procrastination—the voluntary delay in taking action on important, necessary, and expected tasks (despite the knowledge that such delay will have negative consequences)—is a pervasive form of self-regulation failure.

Recently, a British and Canadian research team conducted a study on the relationship between procrastination and health. The study revealed the possible mechanism by which procrastination affects physical health.

Research shows that 50% of students and 15% to 25% of adults suffer from chronic procrastination. In addition to affecting normal study, work, and life, more and more evidence shows that procrastination may be harmful to health.

Participants for the study were recruited from the participant pool of the Department of Psychology at Carleton University in Canada, and 379 participants completed three rounds of testing. Analysis of the data shows that procrastination is associated with higher stress and fewer health-promoting behaviors. Research suggests that stress is a key link between procrastination and poor health.

Previous research by Fred Johansen, a clinical psychologist at Stockholm University in Sweden, and his team found that procrastination can lead to falling behind schedule, failure to achieve personal goals, and harming physical and mental health, causing people to have poor mental states and chaotic work and rest. , increased loneliness, etc.

A Canadian study also found that people who procrastinate are more likely to develop heart disease than people who make decisions quickly. This is because when they finally have to make a judgment, the heart will be under greater pressure, which can leave them mentally exhausted.

Research from the Harvard School of Public Health has also shown that procrastinators are more likely to have circadian rhythm disorders than non-procrastinators. More severe procrastination is associated with shorter average sleep duration per week and increases the risk of insomnia and daytime sleepiness.

02、Procrastination is a form of self-paralysis

Some people never know how to prioritize things, cannot manage time effectively, do not know how to deal with housework and finances, are always procrastinating and late, and cannot do the right thing at the right time. They also have difficulty paying attention to details, being unable to sustain attention for long periods of time, avoiding or hating tasks that require concentration, and being easily distracted and distracted.

Procrastination is common among younger people, such as college students. The review (preview) is postponed until the last day before the exam, and the homework is postponed until the last night before submission. Even getting up in the morning is postponed until the last second before class… However, the exam will definitely come, and the homework must be handed in. Even if it is an online class, you must clock in and sign in online.

Data from the study at Hermei University College in Sofia, Sweden, showed that procrastination was associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress at a nine-month follow-up. In addition to mental health, other aspects seem not to be optimistic. Procrastination may also increase the risk of disabling upper limb pain by 27%, poor sleep quality by 9%, physical inactivity by 7%, and loneliness by 7%.

Procrastination makes time management difficult and reduces self-efficacy. The whole person was confused and aimless. Although many people may understand the negative consequences of procrastination, they sometimes still choose to procrastinate. So what causes us to “know that there are tigers in the mountains, but prefer to travel to the tiger mountains”? In a research article, researchers found that a weakening of an expected effort cost signal sent by the brain’s dorsomedial prefrontal cortex is a key feature associated with procrastination.

Researchers believe that procrastination may stem from a cognitive bias that makes people think that delaying a task seems effortless and the reward is not much reduced. Procrastination can be a form of self-paralysis.

03、Say goodbye to procrastination and stop blaming yourself first

The procrastinator’s top priority is to better understand the problem and stop feeling guilty about procrastination.

So, are there any solutions to procrastination? Professor Feng Tingyong’s team from the Department of Psychology of Southwest University believes that procrastination has become a very common behavior among humans and has even become a living habit for some people. For procrastination intervention, the main goal is to improve the procrastinator’s sense of self-power by increasing self-control and self-worth.

Common intervention methods or strategies include: changing irrational cognitions (such as perfectionism, fear of failure or success); improving the value perception of future tasks and reducing the value of short-term temptations; dividing long-term goals into short-term sub-goals, Increase the height of the motivation curve; encourage procrastinators to take responsibility for the task execution process and conduct self-management and monitoring.

A psychology research team from Durham University in the UK has launched a self-help guide for dealing with procrastination. According to the author Sir Royce and his team, being in a state of procrastination for a long time will cause anxiety due to excessive pressure, which will lead to unsatisfactory results. Necessary shame. For “procrastinators”, many suggestions will encourage them to focus on time management and maintain a higher degree of self-discipline. But Sirois believes that procrastinators need more than just time management skills. More importantly, they need to understand that their procrastination is not due to laziness. Procrastination is caused by people’s inability to manage their emotions internally, so external behavior appears as procrastination. These tasks may be subconsciously classified as boring or even frustrating. Once we put them aside, of course, we feel an immediate sense of relief in the present moment, but the burden is still there. Therefore, to change procrastination behavior, you must first understand the reasons for procrastination, and at the same time, do not stay in the mood of self-blame and seek positive solutions.

Curing procrastination is not easy. People with procrastination have a very fragile sense of self, and the thought of failing at something makes them think of themselves as worthless. New York City psychotherapist Sean Grover suggested in an interview with CNN that if you encounter procrastination problems and you can’t adjust, you can also try to seek help from a psychologist. Say goodbye to procrastination and don’t be a giant in thought and a dwarf in action.