Monday, February 13, 2023

The value of doing nothing

Plus more health news |

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Doing nothing can make you more productive
By Rachel Sonis
Associate Editor, Ideas

In a world ruled by screens, the 3 p.m. work slump—in between Zoom meetings and emails and Slack messages—can feel like an inevitable part of our daily routines. To combat it, we might seek a brief reprieve on social media, which means even more screen time. That moment of supposed “rest” is followed by immense regret for not completing all the day's tasks.

What if we reframed how we thought about our relationship to screens, and perhaps even carved out time without them?

In a new essay for TIME, human-computer interaction researcher Gloria Mark, author of Attention Span, explores how taking time away from screens and doing nothing can actually make us more productive. Among her most intriguing points:

  • Each time we switch from one screen task to another—which happens, on average, every 47 seconds—our brains recreate an internal representation of the task at hand. When we shift gears so rapidly, our mental resources get drained.
  • Consistently not getting enough sleep can decrease attention span and propel us to do more mindless activities, like scrolling through social-media apps.
  • Carving out empty space during the day—for example, by taking a 20-minute walk outside—can help us de-stress. It also promotes divergent thinking, which creates higher quality ideas and better work.

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What else to read
Teen Girls Report Highest Levels of Sadness and Sexual Violence in a Decade, CDC Says
By Madison Muller/Bloomberg
Almost three in five U.S. teen girls reported feeling sad or hopeless in 2021, nearly twice the rate among teenage boys.
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Lead in My Pipes Taught Me How Little America Does to Protect Children
By Adam Benforado
America needs to do much more to focus on the wellbeing and health of children.
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The Hazards of Searching for ‘Marriage Material’
By Myisha Battle
Whether it's app dating or meeting someone in real life, we are always bargaining for love, writes Myisha Battle.
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How to Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally
By Markham Heid
Changes focusing on what and how you eat, as well as your exercise habits, matter most.
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How to Survive on Less Sleep
By Abigail Abrams
It's possible to train your body to need less sleep, some research has found. But it won't work for everyone. (Originally published in 2017.)
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ONE LAST READ
Seniors are increasingly left to protect themselves

Paula Span's piece for the New York Times details the persistent anxieties many seniors still have about COVID-19, even as the rest of the U.S. population moves on.

Older Americans are most at risk for COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths, but younger generations don't view that as an imperative to help protect them. Still, there's more seniors can do to protect themselves. Most haven't received a bivalent booster—one of the best ways to ward off the worst effects of the disease.

Read More »

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Today's newsletter was written by Rachel Sonis and Mandy Oaklander and edited by Angela Haupt.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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