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The Trouble With Multi-Tasking

By Kathy Wright

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 15Oct2007 Word count: 513 Viewed: 334 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

We all do it . You're on your cell phone, the TV's up too loud, dinner's on the stove, there's a load in the washer, one kids at soccer practice waiting to be picked up, the other just spilled grape juice all over your new carpet, and your husband keeps asking you where a clean t-shirt is. We are a society of multi-tasking maniacs! Did you know that doing too much not only impairs your memory, but it also increases your susceptibility to serious illnesses? "If you try to do more than one thing at a time, you will most likely suffer a very substantial loss of efficiency compared with what happens if you concentrate on getting one task done at a time," says David Meyer, Ph.D., a University of Michigan psychology professor specializing in cognition and perception. There are three main drawbacks to multi-tasking:

1.Strained brain. Multitasking is only effective when doing things that are automatic, i.e. breathing while chewing gum. You can't concentrate on two visual tasks at once, says Meyer.

2.Damaged memory possibly permanently. Doing many things at once places an extra load on your memory. Multi-tasking utilizes short- term memory, so people who multi-task often cannot take in new information fully; therefore, it's not available for retrieval later. Also, because multi-tasking is stressful, the body has to release stress hormones that end up diverting attention and energy from memory forming parts of the brain. These stress hormones cause premature aging and damage the health of the skin.

3.Weakened immune system. Multi-tasking can be exhausting, and distressed people don't sleep well. Americans, in general, are sleep-deprived. Because poor sleep leads to even more fatigue, leading to more stress, the body's immune system is damaged. Because of this, it is harder to fight off infections, like colds, and we are more susceptible to stress-associated diseases, like heart disease and high blood pressure, even obesity and diabetes. Stress encourages overeating and interferes with metabolism.

4. Damaged skin, and premature signs of aging. Scowling due to stress causes wrinkling of the facial muscles and that causes expression lines to form on the face.

Smarter Ways to Get Things Done:

1.Figure out your intentions for the week. Identify what you really need to focus on in a week's time.

2.Make a daily list of task in order of importance and stick to it.

3.Leave room or margin in your schedule. This will usually fill itself up, if it was not there you would be over scheduled. If it doesn't fill then this is precious personal reflection or stretching time.

4.Be aware of time! Over scheduling can lead to stress. Determine how long something will actually take.

5.Take breaks. Don't spend more than 90 consecutive minutes on one particular task.

6.Learn to say NO. This is not a negative act.

7.Clean off your desk. This makes it easier to focus.

8.Good enough is enough. Excellence is good, perfectionism is dangerous.

9.Enjoy life, stay healthy, have fun.

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