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Information Overload Inhibits Concentration and How To Minimize Detrimental Effects As Stress
Filed under: Focus Concentration, Stress and Brains, Study Tips
For decades, we’ve been all about developing more and more labor saving devices, communication devices, needing more and more information about everything under the sun. Now we’ve become a society that doesn’t just enjoy, but desperately needs the Blackberry, the pager, the cell phone, the laptop and internet access. Through these devices, we receive information every minute, every hour, every day. We have snail mail, email, radio, television, and phone calls demanding our constant attention. We have books, magazines, reports, and articles that must be read and absorbed. Heaven forbid any information should elude us. We feel we must know everything there is to know, every minute of every day. We’re terrified of being out of the loop, or in the dark about anything.
In our quest to know increasingly and because of our fear of being left out from new information, we have come to a point where it is impossible to concentrate on a project, to focus with laser-like energy. We’re much too busy gathering information. When do we have enough?
David Shenk calls this “data smog” and likens it to pollution we find throughout our world. The production and distribution of information in today’s world has become so much easier to do, not to mention the retrieval of said information, thanks to the internet. This unfortunately, produces an overabundance of low quality information coming at you constantly, every day, from a diverse amount of sources.
The speed at which our society changes is mind boggling to say the least. Technology changes with each passing minute; there’s always new new ways to make old jobs easier or even obsolete. Scientific breakthroughs and cultural innovations happen with such rapidity that it’s difficult to keep up. Every day, science fiction becomes science fact. And all of us feel we must run to keep up, keep our skills sharp, learn new skills every day, every year, constantly adapt to an ever changing society and work world.
When the distribution of more information began, it was considered a good thing, but we may have already reached our saturation point, and the flow of information towards us continues, increasing every day. It’s time to limit our use of so much useless information.
Futurologist Alvin Toffler has put together a very detailed study of the acceleration of change and its psychological effects. He foresees a time of severe physical and mental disturbances, which he calls “future shock” syndrome. He likens this to the nervous breakdown people experience due to wartime trauma, called “shell shock.” The rapid changes of our modern life can, and he thinks will, produce a state of helplessness and inadequacy.
Studies have been done to show the direct correlation between constant change and physical illness. People with high life changes are more likely to develop serious illnesses.
Change can bring about one of two conditions. A person can become excited and curious about what happens next, or they can become fearful, confused, and tense. The longer these feelings remain, the more likely that fatigue will set in and the person will experience loss of control and feel highly distressed. Anyone who has experienced these feelings will tell you focus and concentration are out the window at this point. It’s impossible to concentrate under these conditions.
Too long in this kind of stressful situation brings about the instinctive animal reaction—fight or flight. A person can become aggressive in his/her behavior, something that is difficult to sustain for long periods, or it can cause that person to want to run away and avoid the whole painful thing. It can also tip a person into total despair and depression, a complete numbing of their sensations, an inability to move forward.
Unfortunately, anxiety seems to be ever present in our society, as evidenced by the record use of drugs to suppress the symptoms, such as sleeplessness, irritability, constant worry, and digestive upsets. Never have so many people needed so much medication just to make it through their lives.
Maybe it’s time to quiet the incessant chatter and stem the flow of useless information. Then we may better determine what’s important to us and what isn’t, what we need and what we can do without, what’s necessary to our existence and what amounts to pollution of our mental world.
What can we do about this “data smog?” How do we clear our heads so as to focus on the problems and concentrate on solutions? For starters, set the filters on your email, to dump the truly useless junk mail. If you must check your email all day, at least limit the amount you must go through. Throw away the obvious junk mail you receive each day unless it pertains to something you really need.
Try turning off the television a few hours a day; take a break from the news on occasion. Leave your Blackberry, pager, and cell phone at home when you take a vacation. Let your mind and body rest. Focus on what’s important. Remember, you cannot examine every piece of data, or every new web site added to the millions out there already. Don’t let information take control of you; you must control information.
The Effects of Stress on the Brain
When the human body first experiences stress adrenaline takes over and causes a chain-reaction within the nervous system. The heart begins to beat faster, the sizes of the bodys blood vessels are changed, and the body actually prepares itself for a frightening or emotional event. Even though the humans that are in existence today arent in constant physical danger from wild predators as our pre-historic ancestors were, we still experience this familiar fight-or-flight reaction due to a great deal of different types of stressors.
There are two main types of stress experienced by humans, either chronic or that which is emergency-induced. The chronic type of stress can be particularly harmful to the brain because of hormones and chemicals referred to as glucocorticoids or GCs. When the body experiences a rush of adrenaline which is accompanied by stress, a portion of our brain called the adrenal cortex begins to release these GCs which are useful for dealing with the emergency-type of stressors.
Chemicals such as cortisol, hydrocortisone, and corticosterone act together to increase the production of glucose, constrict blood vessels and essentially help our brains deal with or regulate stress. The GCs tell our brain either to calm down or to boost its levels of awareness and reaction in order to deal with the issue at hand. These glucocorticoids also affect memory functioning, especially in the hippocampus region of the brain.
While the GCs may help us remember frightening or stressful events so that we are better able to deal with them in the future, they can also be harmful to the delicate neurons of the brain. Prolonged periods of stress or depression may actually lead to the damage or even the death of certain neurons, especially those within the memory center of the brain.
Click Image For Stress Relief
Its important to remember that different people react differently to stressors; one person may be able to move on from a trying event while another may suffer from serious psychological effects from a similar event or situation. Learning if your stress is chronic or acute is critical for counteracting the negative affects it has on the brain. Those people who are prone to anger, anxiety, depression, and who suffer from low self-esteem are far more likely to experience damage to the brain than their calmer, more relaxed peers.
Most every one of us experiences bouts of depression or periods of the blues at some point in our lives, but a person who is constantly angry or depressed may require medical or professional assistance. While it may be possible to recover from depression through various means such as drug therapy or counseling, the long-term affects on the brain are still largely unknown. Doctors have recently reported that as many as fifty percent of patients who experienced periods of major depression also possessed high levels of cortisol, which as we know can have negative effects on the brain and its cells.
A recent study conducted by The Washington University School of Medicine located in St. Louis, Missouri has shown conclusive evidence of damage to the brains neurons in people suffering from depression. Even those people who had been depressed years prior to the testing still showed signs of brain damage, as much as 12-15% cell atrophy in their hippocampus, resulting in the loss of an infinite number of memory cells.
Aerobic exercise is an excellent way to reduce stress and its negative effects on the brain. By engaging in some sort of physical activity the body is able to relax, relieve levels of tension and stress, and burn off nervous energy all at the same time. Endorphins, which are the feel good chemicals produced within the brain, are dramatically increased when we exercise which in turn makes both the body and the mind feel better. Not surprisingly, self-esteem can also even be lifted with regular exercise as well as an increased overall body image.
Relaxation Brain Therapy Click Image
In his book Saving Your Brain Dr. Jeff Victoroff theorizes that the cultural evolution and fast-pace of todays society has essentially overwhelmed the capabilities of the brain. However, by simply relaxing, slowing ourselves down and learning how to better deal with the common stressors of every day life we can literally save ourselves from brain damage.
