Multitasking can destroy your brain. Concentrating on multiple tasks simultaneously reduces concentration, productivity and long-term output. Multitasking seems like an easy way to save time, but in reality you’re just torturing your brain. Instantly switching from one task to another jams the brain and slows mental activity.
How do you heal from multitasking syndrome?
It addresses a number of simple rules to get through the day’s tasks without damaging your brain health.
1. The 20-minute rule
No matter how busy the day looks, set aside 20 minutes to tackle each task individually before moving on to the next. Turn off social media notifications and keep away from anything else that might distract you.
2. Practice active rest
This includes breaks between tasks. But not just any breaks, but active ones where you feed your brain. Studies show that we are able to focus effectively for 45 minutes. The same principle has been used to organise school lessons. Every 45 minutes, give yourself a 10-15 minute break, but away from the phone. Take advantage of the breaks and refresh yourself with a Japanese massage session. All Fujiiryoki Japanese massage machines and chairs come equipped with dozens of massage programmes and techniques designed for every area of the body. Too much sitting at a desk and the habit of keeping your body bent over your phone or laptop creates back and neck pain. With electric massage you can release tension in painful areas and your tone will improve dramatically. Go for a 5-10 minute walk, socialise, listen to relaxing music or have an energising snack.
3. Work smart
Group similar tasks together and set a time limit for completing them. If you’re working on your laptop, drop any pages that aren’t related to the task at hand. Don’t check your emails every 10 minutes and don’t get caught up in time-consuming discussions.
Productivity through multitasking is a myth, not a skill
Focusing on a single action is a much more effective and healthy solution. Here’s why:
• Multitasking engages the brain in a rapid succession of activities
Because of this, your concentration power may suffer over time. This makes it difficult to stay focused on even the simplest activities, such as reading, watching a film or taking part in a discussion.
• Multitasking mentally exhausts you
At the end of work you feel exhausted, seemingly without a plausible explanation. When you juggle several tasks at once you force your brain to switch successively from one task to another. This habit speeds up the consumption of glucose that normally helps the brain to concentrate.
• Multitasking lowers IQ
Studies show that training the brain in successive tasks reduces our IQ by 10%, the equivalent of a sleepless night. Each task activates different sections of the brain. Blood is directed to certain areas of the brain which it feeds separately but at distinct times.
• Multitasking increases cortisol
When you start performing several tasks at once you start to worry that once started, they will have to be completed successfully. The brain goes into a state of alert, increasing production of cortisol (the stress hormone), a process that weakens the immune system. Multiple tasks deplete neuronal reserves, degrade the brain, and over time can lead to Alzheimer’s or ADHD. Blood flow in the brain can’t suddenly supply the brain properly. Are you sure you want this?
Even if it seems like multitasking is ticking off all the tasks on your agenda, you’re actually working at an increasingly low cognitive level, which discourages productivity. What’s more, multitasking syndrome also has severe effects on emotional intelligence. Researchers say that people who force themselves to divide their attention in multiple directions become more distant, less sociable and less willing to communicate their emotions.