The pursuit of calm may be sabotaged by a common habit that feeds stress.
Neuropsychiatrists have explored how interruptions in attention (e.g., responding to cell-phone news alerts and answering emails) hamper work performance and creativity. Even listening to background music can create cognitive load.
In Inside the Box. How Constraints Make Us Better, American journalist, David Epstein, mentions “tension residue,” an evocative label for the leftover mental effort and pressure after solving a problem. He makes a compelling case that multitasking (which, in fact, is rapid switching of attention among various tasks) causes hormonal and neurological changes associated with increased stress.
If so, healthy lifestyle changes include minimizing self-interruptions when doing something that requires attention. For me, that includes escaping or blocking email, social-media, and texts while writing.
Along similar lines, a Psychology Today article references “attention residue”—the lingering cognitive activation that remains after we shift from one task to another. If trying to switch back to a project after a quick check of email or social media, thinking may be impaired compared to without the self-interruption.
That apply that to daily tasks. If not focused or under stress, mistakes are more likely. Those add stress and can snowball into greater problems and distress.
All that said, I was pleased to learn that a habit of mine is a good one! When writing all day, I take periodic breaks to play a quick puzzle, such as Spelling Bee. Epstein explains that such small, focused tasks flush out excess glutamine that builds up in the brain and causes mental fog and impaired thinking during long periods of productive and creative work. That is different from checking email.
As a Healthy Survivor, consider taking steps to decrease tension residue and attention residue buildup from self-interruptions.
Jonas Kulikauskas, illustrator
Becky and the Worry Cup (WS Harpham; HarperCollins)