By LAURA LEONARD
Doctor of Chiropractic
Los Alamos
Procrastination is something we are all guilty of, some of us worse than others, myself included. Why is this a thing? Why do we delay completing tasks until the last minute and choose to stress ourselves out?
Increased cardiac risk factors and impacts to our sense of wellbeing are the ultimate paycheck for delaying tasks we need to do.
When we procrastinate we self-sabotage and the more we do it, the harder it gets to stop. This behavior doesn’t give us any long-term benefits but the reward of instant gratification is another ballgame.
In order to solve this mystery, I set out on a search to find the latest academic findings on the neuroscience of procrastination. Turns out, our desire for delaying or completing tasks is related to how much reward or lack thereof we gain from doing the task. Ah … of course, the beloved chemical of reward…dopamine. Dopamine is also the chemical that drives addiction and desire.
It turns out the urge to procrastinate is in fact related to our instinctual drive to survive. Delaying boring or emotionally triggering tasks rewards us in the now, which is why this behavior is so hard to break.
Furthermore, the more we do it the harder it gets to stop. At the end of the day, we are ultimately hardwired to pursue things that feel good and to run away from things that don’t. So many shiny things to chase when food is readily available at the grocery store and creature comforts are taken for granted.
What further complicates things is the fact that our brain’s reward center is tied to the brain region where episodic long-term memories are stored. Unfortunately for us, in order to save space and be efficient, memories stored here are either really good or really bad. Neutral memories are not important from a survival of the species perspective.
The other challenging issue is that these memories affect our daily decision making subconsciously and they are often inaccurate when we do recall them. We tend to insert details: people, places and things, into these memories that never happened. Think of how unreliable eyewitness testimony can be.
This brings me back to procrastination.
When we set out to complete a task or list of tasks, it all comes down to how rewarding or painful those tasks feel. If something else in our environment is more immediately rewarding than the task, for example social media or snacks, boom … we are drawn to the thing that makes us feel good in the moment.
Task completion gets even more difficult when our brain accesses subconscious negative memories about self-worth, safety or perfection in relation to the task. If a task like paying bills, writing a report or making medical appointments ties into negative stored memories or is seen as boring, we gravitate to things that feel better in the moment and end up procrastinating.
So why do we finally bite the bullet when there are deadlines?
Procrastinating on something that is due, especially if it’s important to our ability to support our basic needs, becomes time sensitive. We put it off until the last possible second until the threat of pain becomes greater than the need for avoiding it.
The great news is … once we understand the ‘why’ of a behavior we can investigate “what” is causing it and create strategies to fix it.
References:
Zhang S, Liu P, Feng T. To do it now or later: The cognitive mechanisms and neural substrates underlying procrastination. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci. 2019 Jul;10(4):e1492.
Williams, S.E., Ford, J.H. & Kensinger, E.A. The power of negative and positive episodic memories. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 22, 869–903 (2022).
Dr. Leonard’s practice focuses on posture and performance using a combination of soft tissue release, adjustments & exercise recommendations. She also coaches patients on nutrition, self-care & body awareness to manage themselves in between visits. LA Chiropractic Center is at 557 Oppenheimer Dr. Suite 100.
