Chronic procrastination linked to poor health caused by stress
People who repeatedly and unnecessarily put off tasks or delay decisions suffer from higher stress levels, which impacts on their health, a new study reveals.
16 March 2023
Published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, the research establishes that stress is a factor in the link between chronic procrastination and health problems over a short period.
Researchers say the findings have important public health implications as there is growing evidence that chronic procrastination can be detrimental for health and wellbeing.
Fuschia Sirois, Professor in Social and Health Psychology at Durham University and the lead researcher of the study, said:
"Chronic procrastination reflects a tendency to deal with difficult emotions linked to tasks through avoidance, and avoidance is a coping strategy that is not effective for managing stress.
Avoidance provides immediate relief from stress, but contributes to greater stress in the long run.
Over time, both chronic stress and a pattern of poor health behaviours can increase risk for more serious health issues, including poor cardiovascular health.
If we want to tackle the health risks linked to procrastination, strategies that help improve skills in mindfulness, self-compassion, and coping to foster more adaptive emotion regulation may be effective."
Professor Sirois believes one reason for the growing prevalence of chronic procrastination is that it is a habitual response to the increasing demands and stress of everyday life for some people.
"In high stress contexts, coping resources are limited, making procrastination an easy and fast way of dealing with stressful tasks through avoidance.
"We saw evidence of this during the pandemic when procrastination levels rose in some populations, such as students."
It was this group that was targeted to take part in the research, with 379 undergraduates involved in the study. The majority were female and aged, on average, just over 20.
Research participants were surveyed three times, a month apart, and were asked about stress levels, health behaviours and health problems at all three points, with a tendency to procrastinate assessed in the initial survey.
The study also looked at the role of health behaviours and found that procrastinators engaged in health-promoting behaviours less frequently; however the indirect effect of these behaviours on health was not significant.
This might have been because of the types of acute health problems the study looked at – including headaches, muscle pains, digestive complaints and cold/flu.
These are more likely to be affected in the short term by stress than by poor eating habits and lack of exercise, the research states.