Every procrastinator has secretly vowed that he will never put it off until the end. The reality is always "forget it, it's too late to do it tomorrow"...
Recently, a new study published in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association warns that procrastination can affect physical and mental health in all aspects, including physical pain, poor sleep, anxiety and depression, and this effect can last for up to 9 months.
Experts interviewed
Hao Bin, member of the Mental Health Working Committee of the China Federation of Social Workers
National Level 2 Psychological Counselor Guo Rui
New Swedish study confirms that delay can cause disease
In the study, several institutions, including Hemer University College in Sofia, Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet, analyzed data from 3,525 university students with an average age of 24.8 years.
At the beginning of the study, researchers assessed the students' depression and anxiety symptoms, unhealthy lifestyle habits, and physical pain; After 3 months, the students' procrastination levels were measured using a procrastination scale.
Follow-up was followed up after nine months and assessed longitudinal associations between students' procrastination levels and 16 health outcomes, including mental health (depression, anxiety symptoms), somatic pain, unhealthy lifestyle (poor sleep, lack of exercise, smoking, skipping breakfast), psychosocial (loneliness, financial hardship), and general health.
The results showed that procrastination was associated with adverse health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and disabling pain over the next nine months. Students who procrastinate more are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, shoulder or arm pain, poor sleep quality, and inner loneliness.
Specifically, each 1 standard deviation increase in delay was associated with a 27% increased risk of upper extremity disabling pain, a 9% increase in the risk of poor sleep quality, a 7% increase in the risk of physical inactivity, a 7% increase in the risk of loneliness, and a 15% increase in the risk of financial hardship.
Fred Johnson, principal investigator at Herme University in Sofia, Sweden, said the link persisted even after the researchers considered the students' symptoms at the beginning, suggesting that potential negative associations between procrastination and health outcomes may accumulate over time.
People who love to procrastinate have 3 characteristics
Procrastination refers to the failure of self-regulation and the ability to postpone what you plan to do when you can anticipate harmful consequences.
"Chronic procrastination" refers to the persistent or habitual appearance of procrastination behaviors that procrastinate almost everything that must be done in life.
Guo Rui, a national second-level psychological counselor, said that research on procrastination has found that people who are easy to procrastinate have some personality characteristics:
Low self-esteem complex
I always feel that I can't do it, I am afraid of difficulties, I look left and right, I am anxious and helpless, and I will deliberately delay.
Perfectionist tendencies
Perfectionists don't start out of fear, but they don't want to face imperfect situations. If you are too demanding of yourself, afraid of losing people, and have a large psychological burden, it is difficult to start doing.
Mood swings are volatile
There are also people who have a weak sense of responsibility, are easy to get by, have easy mood swings, spend a lot of time thinking about it, worry, and waste energy.
Hao Bin, director of the Mental Health Working Committee of the China Federation of Social Workers, believes that the negative consequences caused by procrastinating habits or behaviors of procrastinators can cause negative emotional reactions such as frustration, excessive depression, excessive irritability, self-blame and guilt.
The persistent backlog of these emotions can affect sleep quality and health, creating a vicious cycle.
In the long run, chronic procrastination can also have a significant impact on people's health. For example, prolonged procrastination is associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and physical conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
A formula "cures" procrastination
Canadian psychologist Piers Steele believes that there are 4 main reasons why people are slow to act and can procrastinate:
Lack of confidence in accomplishing something;
There is no strong feeling of pleasure;
Poor concentration;
The goal is too big, too far.
Based on this, he proposed a formula: action = confidence× pleasure/distraction × goals. According to this formula, we can "break each one" to improve our mobility.
Build confidence
When we don't have the confidence to do something well and do it well, we are mostly reluctant to take the first step. To enhance confidence, in addition to objectively evaluating oneself, not being presumptuous, in the final analysis, it is necessary to improve one's strength in a down-to-earth manner.
Get pleasure
Pleasure comes from the rewards obtained during or after completing a task, which can be divided into material and spiritual. If there are huge benefits and rewards behind a job, you are more motivated to do it.
When you can't control your external reward, you must learn to "entertain yourself" in the task. Interest is the best teacher, explore the benefits and fun of things themselves, and turn patience into enjoyment.
Reduce distractions
Maintaining attention takes energy, so keep your brain in good shape with a regular routine.
In addition, it is said that "out of sight, out of mind", often tidying up and cleaning the office environment, keeping the desktop tidy is conducive to quickly entering the working state.
In addition, people can maintain their attention to the maximum when they are "working hard", and make good use of this time to overcome the most difficult and important parts of the task.
Segment goals
Targets that are too big and too far away are weak to guide action at this moment. After we set the general direction, we try to divide the goals into more detailed ones, accurate to monthly, weekly, and daily.
For example, learning a foreign language, "complete the memorization of 50 words today" is more useful than "fluent conversation with foreigners in a year".
Prolonged procrastination increases anxiety and traps the cycle of "procrastination-bad mood-more procrastination-worse mood." In the new year, may you quit procrastination and become a person who controls the pace and has excellent self-discipline. ▲
Editor of this issue: Zheng Ronghua