Fatigue affects decision-making and implementation of new habits
Productivity / / December 23, 2019
When a person gets tired, it becomes awkward. Clumsiness leads to irritability. If you start tilting the cup, beating the little fingers on the cabinets and blunt front of the open fridge, a sure sign of fatigue. Drop everything and go to sleep!
But the awkwardness is not the only manifestation of fatigue. Here are a few other, less obvious.
Tired people are less likely to
Many people know that fatigue - a bad assistant when making decisions. Especially - important decisions.
Fatigue can indeed influence our choices. Studies show that when you are tired, we tend to prefer bird in the hand than two in the bush.
A series of five experiments at Oxford UniversityThe Bright Side of Impulse: Depletion Heightens Self-Protective Behavior in the Face of Danger. It showed that participants who were tired, were less prone to risky behavior. They are carefully selected products, wary of unprotected sex and were more concerned about their health.
Therefore, fatigue is not such a bad thing when you make a decision about your health or finances. Watch how much money you spend when shopping tired? chance to make
impulsive purchase much lower.The downside: fatigue, dulling the spirit of adventure, new acquaintances and prevents a truly uncommon experience. Exhaustion makes us cautious. This can be a problem while traveling or expanding circle of acquaintances.
Knowing how fatigue affects the decision-making, you can prepare in advance. For example, a good night's sleep before the important negotiations.
Fatigue brings us back to old habits
According to a study published in the journal of personality and social psychology, produced by the American Psychological Association, fatigue reduces the ability to self-control. As a consequence, we are back to the old, often of little, lifestyle.
For example, if one day you decide to follow the diet and eat only healthy food, the risk of fatigue-slip to potato chips and fast food are much higher.
But there is good news. It all depends on your habits! If you're used to walk before bedtime, you can easily agree on an evening promenade, even if squeezed like a lemon.
Tired brain and body is easier to make habitual actions, than something new.
Remember this property fatigue when you are on the path of reforms and put into practice new habits.
Peaks of fatigue, when you want to drop everything, inevitable. But it can be overcome.
For example, you come home from work, tired, so I think that's so healthy to cook for dinner, there is absolutely no force. And this is the hand already reaching for a bun with butter and sweet tea. In that case, you need to have on hand cards with recipes quick to prepare, tasty and healthy dishes. To be able to turn off the brain and just follow the instructions.
Same with the tasks. When planning a sort them by priority, not only, but also in complexity. For example, mark the tasks that can be performed on the machine, green or otherwise, and switch to them, when the end of the working day is still far away, and the forces already on the wane.
conclusion
Fatigue has a negative impact on the body. When sleep deprivation and excessive stress the body ceases to obey the brain. We become clumsy and irritable. Everything literally pours out of hand, I do not want to do.
Disorganizing the state of fatigue.
But it turns out, it also has advantages. Due to the lower risk appetite, we can be more careful in their decisions. And knowing that fatigue leads us to old habits, we can prepare for the manifestation of weakness of character.
However, fatigue is still better to avoid. Effective "medicine" from fatigue - sleep. He makes up for the energy reserves, "reloads" muscle memory and restores. Healthy and adequate sleep gives us the cognitive benefits and improves performance.