It’s tempting to think that we can do more with less time if we just multi-task our way through life. Returning emails while you’re on the treadmill or scanning social media while you’re meal prepping might be thwarting your efforts at living a healthier lifestyle. Any time you give less than your full attention to one task you risk undermining your own efforts. FitClub has three reasons multi-tasking may be keeping you from your goals and gives you easy fixes to save you time and effort.
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The main reason multi-tasking fails is because your brain simply can’t conduct two unrelated tasks at the same time. Even if you hear what someone on the phone is saying while you’re increasing your incline on the treadmill, the information can’t adequately store itself in your long term memory for use later. You’re wasting your workout trying to conduct a phone call you’ll forget soon anyway. The solution is obvious, if not easy in the constantly connected world we live in. Leave your phone alone while you’re at FitClub. While you’re exercising, be fully present in the workout, paying attention to your form, your breathing pattern, and the way exercise makes you feel. You may have to find time later to return that phone call that can’t wait, but it’ll seem easier when the endorphins of a satisfying workout kick in.
Multi-tasking is exhausting. Your brain is designed to focus on one activity at a time and when you challenge it to flip between multiple tasks at once, it tires out more quickly. If you think of your brain as a computer, you can appreciate that even good computers run more slowly when you have too many tabs open at any given moment. As you lose energy to multi-tasking, you’re more prone to mistakes and may have difficulty making decisions. Fast food companies thrive on the fact that people have expended all of their effort before they’ve made a conscious healthy decision about what they’ll have for dinner at the end of a long day. If your work day or home life make giving up multi-tasking impossible, at least take time in the mornings or on weekends to prepare healthy dishes in advance. Cleaning and cutting vegetables and fruit or making healthy meals that can be reheated or frozen for later use can help you enjoy a healthy, effortless meal even when you’re mentally exhausted at the end of a long day.
Multitasking may alleviate boredom but it’s also keeping you from a more mindful experience. It’s okay to workout without trying to keep up with a complicated audio book or television show. A constant stream of information actually fuels your stress. A study done by the University of California Irvine found that multi-taskers had an elevated heart rate indicating stress. If the thought of being more mindful stresses you out, try FitClub’s meditation classto learn how to work with your mind instead of against it.
How do you feel about multi-tasking? Do you think it holds you back from reaching your goals?
