Is procrastination making YOU sick?

I’ll do it tomorrow. I work much better when I’m under pressure. It can wait a little while longer. We all know the classic signs of procrastination. But apart from adding extra stress to our work and home lives, it can also lead to serious health issues.

Most of us put off doing tedious or unpleasant tasks from time to time. These could include mundane things like taking out the trash, cleaning windows or returning rented DVDs, or perhaps making that stressful telephone call or submitting our tax return. Where most people only procrastinate on occasion, ‘serial’ procrastinators do it all the time with far-reaching effects on their personal and professional lives, as well as their health.

In response to an online survey, the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University in Canada received 2 700 responses to the question: “To what extent is procrastination having a negative impact on your happiness?” Almost one person in two (46%) said “quite a bit” or “very much,” and around one person in five (18%) reported an “extreme negative effect.”

This unhappiness caused by delaying tasks until the point of no return, impacts on our personal relationships and hinders our performance at work. Who has not snapped at their partner, child, co-worker or (heaven forbid) manager with the dark cloud of an uncompleted job or project looming over their head, only to beg for forgiveness later? Maybe you’ve missed an ideal opportunity to prove yourself, or missed a promotion at work because you failed to submit your CV on time. The list goes on and on.

On a personal level, continuously putting things off can lead to lower self-esteem as you keep taunting yourself with pointless questions like “What’s wrong with me, why can’t I get this done?” It might also lead to a damaged reputation, as people stop taking you seriously when you say you’ll do something but don’t.

But perhaps the most dangerous consequence of procrastination is the possible effects it can have on your health. Studies suggest that the anxiety and stress caused by procrastination can lead to depression over the long term, and can weaken the immune system, making us more susceptible to various infections.

Moreover, if you are putting off important health checks all the time, or are ignoring those pesky headaches or pains that simply won’t go away, you could be wasting precious time in getting the right diagnosis and treatment for more serious dread diseases.

You might also be delaying altering unhealthy behaviours such as lack of exercise, overeating, smoking and drinking that could result in lifestyle diseases like diabetes, stroke or colon cancer.

The moral of the story? There could be many reasons why you procrastinate, and unfortunately there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to help you just “get on with it”. If you feel that you are always procrastinating and unable to function optimally as a result of it, despite your best efforts to turn things around, it might be worth your while to speak to a therapist or psychologist about it. (Although procrastination research is a new field, researchers are beginning to identify different types of procrastination and their causes.)

Whatever you decide not to do today, don’t let getting that headache checked out or going for your mammogram fall by the wayside.

There’s no need to put off crucial health checks if you’re part of the Fedhealth family. We cover important health screenings for women’s, children’s, cardiac, as well as general health (like an annual flu vaccine) on all our options, except Blue Door Plus. Our Screening Benefit also covers screenings for our older members on the most comprehensive options. To join or find out more, contact 0860 002 153 or fedhealth@medscheme.co.za