Are you procrastinating more? Blame it on the pandemic.

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Staying up too late to enjoy some leisure activities after a long day, leaving you tired and late the next day? Do you clean the bathroom instead of answering e-mails from work? Chances are you are not alone. COVID-19 has spawned a global mental health crisis, and it’s fueling one of our most harmful human tendencies: procrastination.

People don’t necessarily procrastinate because they are lazy. Procrastination has its roots in our evolutionary development, with two key parts of the brain vying for control.

Procrastination is an emotionally-focused coping strategy, says Tim Pychyl, professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ont., And author of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle. It’s not a time management issue; it is a problem of managing emotions.

And while the arrival of vaccines has offered hope as the devastating pandemic continues, a year after the World Health Organization declared it a global pandemic, lockdowns and isolation will likely continue for months in the United States as we build collective immunity. This leaves many people struggling with the fear and frustration that often allows procrastination to win the battle in our brains.

Procrastination can result from a combination of mental and physical health issues, says Nitin Desai, a doctor based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The pandemic has caused increased stress, anxiety and depression, leading to more people [suffering from] these underlying conditions, leading to more procrastination.

Here’s a breakdown of the science behind procrastination, how the pandemic has led to an increase in different forms of behavior, and some of the strategies we can use to get our brains back on track.

Brain battles

Experts who study procrastination define it as the willful delay of an intentional act despite the fact that you can expect to be worse in the long run by postponing the task. We know the task doesn’t go away, but sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us. It is our present self that decides, and our future self suffers as a result.

Neuroscientists have discovered that procrastination is a battle between an old part of the brain called the limbic system and a relatively younger part known as the prefrontal cortex.

The limbic system is sometimes known as the paleomammalian brain because its components play a role in our most fundamental survival adaptations, controlling basic behaviors such as the fight-or-flight response, as well as emotion and looking for pleasure. The limbic system is most often related to impulsive behavior and a desire for instant gratification.

The prefrontal cortex has evolved more recently; scientists estimate it to be 19 to 15 million years ago. He’s responsible for more complex behaviors like planning for the future, which probably benefited our ancestors when it came time to coordinate hunts to take down larger prey and build civilizations.

How fear and anxiety drove human evolution

Experiencing fear and anxiety might not be pleasant, but both are important emotions that drive human evolution. Our brains react to threats, preparing our bodies for what might happen to us, in ways we learned thousands of years ago. But what is the science behind this inherent reaction and are there any consequences?

However, when strong emotions such as anxiety and fear become overwhelming, the impulsive limbic system can still prevail. And that’s when we postpone more daunting tasks for the temporary relief offered by watching a new Netflix show or trying the latest TikTok viral recipe.

Before the pandemic, chronic procrastinators faced a host of ill effects, from poor grades in school to health risks from missed doctor visits and missed workouts. And while some experts argue that procrastination may have benefits for creativity, Pychyl cautions against confusing deliberate and thoughtful delays with the failure of self-regulation of procrastination.

Everyone always wants to turn a vice into a virtue, Pychyl says.

Bedtime revenge

At the start of the pandemic, we battled what experts called quarantine fatigue, exhaustion from adapting to restrictions associated with the virus. And as the pandemic dragged on, more and more people found themselves vulnerable to the stress and uncertainty that lead to procrastination.

Our need to socially distance ourselves and stay at home has derailed our ability to do things that make it easier for us to stay focused on our task, like maintaining a regular schedule and creating separate spaces for specific goals, says Julianna. Miner, assistant professor. from Global and Community Health at George Mason University in Virginia, and author of Raising a Screen-Smart Kid: Embrace the Good and Avoid the Bad in the Digital Age.

If people are indeed procrastinating more, Miner blames the increase in work and distance learning, which creates challenges to differentiate workspaces from spaces for relaxation, as well as an inability to clearly separate our time between work. and relaxation. The lack of structure is really detrimental to people who struggle with procrastination, she says.

Robin Hornstein, a licensed psychologist and certified health coach based in Philadelphia, agrees. Those who now work from home are missing the work benchmarks that make the day run smoothly, she says. We live under prolonged stress and we develop habits of safety and appeasement. This can lead to procrastination.

In particular, the pandemic appears to have led to an increase in what is known as bedtime procrastination, a term coined in a 2014 study by health researchers at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. In this type of procrastination, people delay falling asleep for hobbies. Chinese social media users renamed it in 2020 Bedtime Procrastination, referring to people who get revenge on work day by standing for fun and the highly relevant term has gone viral on Twitter.

A 2019 study in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience suggested that women in particular are prone to a problem with bedtime procrastination that can now be exacerbated by the additional demands placed on women especially during the pandemic. Chronically engaging in this behavior can have serious consequences when lack of sleep creates physical and mental health problems.

Productive procrastination is another buzzword fueled by the pandemic. This is when people skip one task to complete another, like putting off a big work project to scrub grout in the bathroom. While it might seem less dangerous because you get to complete a task and reach a certain level of productivity, he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The big report has yet to be done, and postponing it only increases stress levels.

Carleton Universities Pychyl believes that productive procrastination is not just an oxymoron, but another example of humans trying to turn vice into virtue.

Next small steps

While procrastination can be a difficult tendency to fight, experts say there are things we can do to avoid falling into its mental trap.

Research shows that mindfulness and self-compassion can help procrastination, perhaps because these practices aim to overcome negative emotions. In a 2018 study published in the journal Mindfulness, scientists found that people who were able to admit their mistakes or other personal failures, and then forgive themselves, were less likely to procrastinate. Likewise, a 2020 study in the International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology found that people who did even brief mindfulness exercises were more likely to stay focused on their task.

We live under prolonged stress and we develop habits of safety and appeasement. This can lead to procrastination.

By Robin HornsteinHornstein Platt & Associates

On a more practical level, Pychyl urges people not to overload themselves with an entire project, but rather to determine a next step with as low a threshold as possible. When you focus on taking even one small step, you are fooling your brain into watching an action, not the associated emotion.

George Masons Miner advises people struggling with procrastination to understand what has helped them be productive in the past. For her, she says, “creating a layer of accountability helps. This is why many colleges have set up procrastination accountability groups for students.

“For those who can’t work alone, try an online accountability partner site like Focus Mate,” adds Hornstein, the Philadelphia psychologist. Make a colleague your accountability partner and celebrate everyone’s successes, and ask for it. ‘help in remedying issues that are overdue. “

Hornstein also encourages people to hold themselves accountable by organizing and prioritizing to-do lists and creating a reward system for completed tasks. Previous research has shown that the promise of even relatively small rewards, like a short walk outside or a tasty treat, can motivate people to focus on their work.

However, several experts warn that if you’re really struggling with procrastination, it could be due to more serious mental health issues: says Desai, Fayetteville’s doctor. A good medical evaluation with psychological tests may be the first step. .

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify Robin Hornstein’s affiliation.

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