Procrastination1 May Harm Your Health拖延也许会危害你的健康

Procrastination is putting off what you know you should be doing now to later，even if you’ll be worse off. But all those tasks pushed to tomorrow seem to hidethemselves into your mind—and it may be harming your health.

Though procrastinators2 may think they perform better under pressure， theyactually worked more slowly and made more errors3 than non-procrastinators.

We’re born to avoid anything painful or difficult. And a stressful environmentcan make procrastinating even easier.

Procrastinators can fall into a shame spiral4 where they feel uneasy about atask， put the task off， feel ashamed for putting it off and then feel even worse thanwhen they started.

Usually， the procrastinating students tended to be more stressed， anxious anddepressed5 than other students. The procrastinating people are at greater risk ofdeveloping both physical and psychological6 problems later on.

The effects7 of procrastinating could build up over time. And thoughprocrastination alone may not cause disease， it could be one extra factor that cantip the scales8.

The scientists have experimented with different procrastination treatments. It’shard to say what works best. You can try to improve your time management skills.

For some procrastinators， some clear tips can work. For example， simply putdown your smartphones. Silencing notifications9 or studying in the library ratherthan at home can help keep you on task.

Self-forgiveness10 may help， too. You made a mistake and procrastinated. It’snot the end of the world. What matters is what you can do to move forward.

拖延是把你知道现在应该做的事情往后推，即使你的情况会更糟。但所有这些被推到明天的任务似乎将它们自己藏在你的脑海中———而这可能会危害你的健康。

尽管拖延者可能认为他们在压力下表现更好，但他们实际上比非拖延者工作得更慢，犯的错误也更多。

我们天生就会回避任何痛苦或困难的事情。而一个充满压力的环境，会使拖延变得更加容易。

拖延者可能会陷入一个羞耻的漩涡，他们对某项任务感到不安，把任务推迟，为推迟任务感到羞愧，然后感觉甚至比开始时还要糟糕。

通常，拖拉的学生比其他的学生压力更大，更加焦虑和抑郁。拖延症患者日后出现身体和心理问题的风险更大。

拖延的影响会随着时间的推移而加剧。虽然拖延本身可能不会导致疾病，但它可能是一个可以使天平失衡的额外因素。

科学家们已经试验了不同的拖延症治疗方法。很难说什么方法最有效。你可以试试改进你的时间管理技巧。

对于一些拖延者来说，一些明确的建议可以奏效。比如，干脆放下你的智能手机。将通知调至静音或在图书馆而不在家学习可以帮助你继续坚持完成任务。

自我宽恕也可能会有所帮助。你犯了一个错误，拖延了时间。这不是世界末日。重要的是你能做些什么来继续前进。

Notes

1. procrastination 拖延；拖延症

2. procrastinator 拖延者；拖拉者

3. error 错误；失误

4. spiral 螺旋形；螺旋形之物

5. depressed 抑郁的

6. psychological 心理的；精神的

7. effect 作用；影响

8. scale 天平

9. notification 通知

10. self-forgiveness 自我宽恕