Procrastination and Depression

Procrastination is a complex behavior disease that we all suffer in a way or another. Consists on delay systematically all those tasks we may do that acre crucial for our development. Instead, they are replaced by some other one less relevant but more pleasant to perform. Sometimes people call it just "laziness"
Affects to a lot of different people's profiles (the executive who delays a meeting time after time because he foresees it as very conflictive, the student that delays the time to start studying for his final exams, etcetera), and it's becoming a more serious problem everyday that affects psychological health of individuals so then the social health is also affected.

Procrastination is a phenomenon whose complexity is so that it's difficult to analyze, because of its difficulty roots as well as the so many feedbacks it has inside. So the whole picture is a polyfacetic panorama so hard to analyze. In this article I'd try to take a "sneak peak" to this subject, with the help of some references inside the scientific literature.

Procrastination comes as a poor time management. Procrastinator tens to overestimate the time left to complete a task, or to underestimate the time needed to perform it. These are just a couple of the self-tricks that procrastinator does. As we'll see later, some of the typical behaviors in a procrastinator is a great self-confidence, feeling of self-control and security. As an example, let's say we have 15 days to complete a report. In our inside we think we can do that in just 5 days, even less. So in that moment we say "I have a lot of time ahead, so I won't even start doing it!” And then it gets procrastinated day after day, because in our mind that task was "already finished" when in reality it has never been started. When deadline approaches dangerously, suddenly we notice that we won't be able to deliver on time. Then we think "I don't have this under control, I won't do it" and then we start to work on that in a very stressful way. In that point another self-trick appears: "I just work fine under pressure". But... is there another option?

So frequently this behavior is typical of self-confident people. But if that person is really capable, may be that task will be done and delivered on time. That sends a wrong message to the procrastinator ("look! finally I've got good qualifications after all!") that sees how his stressful way to work has been finally rewarded; so he'd keep doing that way, even though it carries out anxiety and problems.

The causes that can lead anyone to procrastination are so diverse and complex that it would be very hard to write them down in a single article. There are people that procrastinate as a result of a depression (depression leads to states of lethargy). Some other love perfectionism, and this feature keeps them from starting projects like they are afraid they won't be able to complete it as perfect as they wish... and that leads to a lack of motivation. They also have low tolerance to frustration, and that helps to "put off" things, being afraid that will be overwhelming us so making us feel guilty. Another classical profile but so different would be of those people that they just enjoy generating ideas, but they are unable to fully implement them because they soon become busy generating new ones one the fly. So they put off completion of each and any of the projects they start.

Probably you could identify yourself while reading these lines. You'd probably remind yourself reading the newspaper in your office with a long "to-do" list, going to cafeteria as the first step to complete a task, surfing the web while your phone was ringing with an annoying customer/boss on the other side of the line, etcetera.

The fact that procrastination is a commonly extended disease and that is a complex, rich phenomenon makes it very interesting and worth the study, both at an academic level up to individual interest.

(Extracted from Society of 2000 magazine)[http://www.societyof2000.org]

Depression:

Depression is a mental disease whose consequences are terrible. It almost annihilates the capacity of a person to think properly and to keep relationships with others... in a word, to live. One of the symptoms of depression is the lethargic state. A depress person doesn't want to know anything about reality, he's always looking for the bed to sleep trying to find peace in the world of dreams, the peace inside the unconsciousness of the true reality. So activity, to deal with projects, means kind of "get back on track" to life, so to reality and that's why a depressed person procrastinates the tasks he should perform and keeps substituting them by non-relevant others that provides him with a more instant, easy pleasure. So in such these cases, as procrastination is so bond to depression, the healing of this one would lead to the healing of that one.

That feel themselves so confident about -whether they have reasons to do so or not- distort so sharply and permanently their time's perception, so they make a very poor management of it. A person, whose cognitive intelligence has been rewarded continuously during his lifetime, can let astray the ability to perform forecasts with efficiency. For instance, if for just one time, somebody completes a complex task in less time than provided, he would greet about that. This feedback can make this person to extend this attitude to other subjects in his life, leading to an excess of self-confidence. As most of the task are delivered with regular timeframes / deadlines, the so called "self-confident procrastinator" finds that he has a lot of time to perform it, so he decides that he's "bored" and then goes thru other irrelevant tasks that give him pleasure rather than his true duties. This is the key point, because these irrelevant tasks, even they are so superfluous, they usually are so time-consuming. So at the end, the procrastinator finds himself in the middle of a maze wich doesn't know how to exit. If such these desperate situations are common, procrastinator can fall in a depressed state, that is also a source of procrastination itself, as seen in previous point.

Solution to this kind of procrastination is not straightforward. A possible technique could consist on systematically and artificially enlarge the timeframes we need to to absolutely anything, so we could adjust deadlines more properly. Another one could be to "explode" each and every tasks in a series of "sub-tasks" that are easier to time every mind's a world, and every intelligence has its own features. There are people whose intelligence tells them to act, to persevere. That kind of minds can go so far in this life, but mostly about a specialized subject, may be two. Other minds, that I use to call "Flying minds", tend to leave in a second plane the performance. In this case, the simple generation of ideas is a perpetual task that consumes all the time of the person. A constant source of ideas that will never see the light of reality. Why?. Because during the implementation of any of these ideas, another new one appears suddenly. So the newer the idea, the more priority it has, and then the performance of previous idea are just abandoned. This kind of induced procrastination is so common in creative minds.

What to do about it? Hard to tell, may be looking for the coordinated help of others who are better in "executive intelligence" rather than "creative intelligence" could be a way

Healthy Habits for TV, Interactive Games and Internet

No doubt about it - television, interactive video games, and the Internet can be excellent sources of education and entertainment for your child. But too much plugged-in time can have unhealthy side effects.

That's why it's a good idea to monitor and limit your child's "screen time," the time your child spends playing video games, watching TV, and playing games on the Internet.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that kids under age 2 have no screen time, and that kids older than 2 watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming.


It's also a good idea to make sure your child has a wide variety of free-time activities in addition to TV, video games, and the Internet. Activities like reading, playing with friends, and sports can all play a vital part in helping your child develop a healthy body and mind.

Here are some practical ways to make your child's screen time more productive in your home.

Healthy TV Time

1.Limit the number of TV-watching hours:

2.Stock the room in which you have your TV with plenty of other non-screen entertainment (books, kids' magazines, toys, puzzles, board games, etc.) to encourage your child to do something other than watch the tube.

3.Keep TVs out of your child's bedroom.

4.Turn off the TV during meals.

5.Don't allow your child to watch TV while doing homework.

6.Treat TV as a privilege that your child needs to earn - not a right to which he or she is entitled. Tell your child that TV viewing is allowed only after chores and homework are completed.

7.Try a weekday ban. Schoolwork, sports activities, and job responsibilities make it tough to find extra family time during the week. Record weekday shows or save TV time for weekends, and you'll have more family togetherness time to spend on meals, games, physical activity, and reading during the week.

8.Set a good example. Limit your own television viewing.

9.Check the TV listings and program reviews. Look for programs your family can watch together (i.e., developmentally appropriate and nonviolent programs that reinforce your family's values). Choose shows, says the AAP, that foster interest and learning in hobbies and education (reading, science, etc.).

10.Preview programs. Make sure you think they're appropriate before your child watches them.

11.Use the ratings. Age-group rating tools have been developed for some TV programs, and usually appear in newspaper TV listings and onscreen during the first 15 seconds of some TV programs.

12.Use screening tools. Many new standard TV sets have internal V-chips (V stands for violence) that let you block TV programs and movies you don't want your child to see.

13.Come up with a family TV schedule. Come up with something the entire family agrees on. Then post the schedule in a visible household area (i.e., on the refrigerator) so that everyone knows which programs are OK to watch and when. And make sure to turn off the TV when the "scheduled" program is over instead of channel surfing until something gets your or your child's interest.

14.Watch TV with your child. If you can't sit through the whole program, at least watch the first few minutes to assess the tone and appropriateness, then check in throughout the show.

15.Talk to your child about what he or she sees on TV and share your own beliefs and values. If something you don't approve of appears on the screen, you can turn off the TV, then use the opportunity to ask your child thought-provoking questions such as, "Do you think it was OK when those men got in that fight? What else could they have done? What would you have done?" Or, "What do you think about how those teenagers were acting at that party? Do you think what they were doing was wrong?"

16.If certain people or characters are mistreated or discriminated against, talk about why it's important to treat everyone fairly despite their differences. You can use TV to explain confusing situations and express your feelings about difficult topics (sex, love, drugs, alcohol, smoking, work, behavior, family life). Teach your child to question and learn from what he or she views on TV.

17.Find out about other TV policies. Talk to other parents, your child's doctor, and your child's teachers about their TV-watching policies and kid-friendly programs they'd recommend.

18.Offer fun alternatives to television. If your child wants to watch TV but you want him or her to turn off the tube, suggest that you both play a board game, start a game of hide and seek, play outside, read, work on crafts or hobbies, or listen and dance to music. The possibilities for fun without the tube are endless - so turn off the TV and enjoy the quality time you'll have to spend with your child.

Healthy Habits for Video and Interactive Computer Games

1.Look at the ratings. Video games do have ratings to indicate when they have violence, strong language, mature sexual themes, and other content that may be inappropriate for your child. The ratings, established for the Entertainment Software Review Board, range from EC (meaning Early Childhood) - which indicates that the game is appropriate for kids ages 3 and older - to AO (for Adults Only) - which indicates that violent or graphic sexual content makes it appropriate only for adults.

2.Preview the games. Even with the ratings, it's still important to preview the games - or even play them - before you give them to your child. The game's rating may not match what you feel is appropriate for your child.

3.Help your child get perspective on the games. Monitor how the games are affecting your child. If your child seems more aggressive after spending time playing a certain game, it's a good idea to discuss the game and help your child understand how the violence that's portrayed is different from what occurs in the real world. By doing that, you can help your child identify less with the aggressive characters and reduce the negative effects that the violent video games can have, according to the AAP.

Internet Safety

1.Become computer literate. Learn how to block objectionable material.
Keep the computer in a common area. Keep it where you can watch and monitor your child. Avoid putting a computer in your child's bedroom.
Share an email account with younger children. That way, you can monitor who is sending messages to your child.

2.Bookmark your child's favorite sites. Your child will have easy access and be less likely to make a typo that could lead him or her to inappropriate content.

3.Spend time online together. Teach your child appropriate online behavior.

4.Forbid your child from entering private chat rooms. Block the chat rooms with safety features provided by your Internet service provider or with special filtering software. Be aware that posting messages to chat rooms reveals your child's email address to others.

5.Find out about online protection elsewhere. Find out what, if any, online protection is offered by your child's school, after-school center, friends' homes, or any place where he or she could use a computer without your supervision.

Exercise for Fitness

Nutrition Guidelines:
o Ideally, you should eat six meals a day. Never skip any meal. Try to eat at least five times a day. It also helps improving digestion
o Remember skipping meals slows down metabolism and makes it even harder to lose fat later
o All your meal should be equal and moderately sized. Combine complex carbohydrates and complete protein at every meal.
o Eat till you are satisfied, not full.
o Avoid heavy meal at night.
o Sleep at least after 2 ½ hours after you night meal.
o Strictly avoid fried and sugar-containing foods like sweets, sweetened biscuits.
o Exercise after 2 ½ hours of eating your large meal. Also, eat one hr after exercise for increasing the residual fat-burning effects of exercise.
o Drink plenty of water during day (10 glasses). Body tells less of its water requirement.
o Body is 70% water. Don't confuse weight loss with water loss or muscle mass loss with products like herbal tea. Aim at losing fat, not weight
o Eat lots of boiled (can be spicy) vegetables and big green salad.

Cardio/Aerobic/Isotonic Exercise Guidelines (exercises that elevate your heart beat like fast walking, swimming, jogging etc.) o Only type of physical exercise activity that directly burns fat.
o Try to do at least for 20 min. However it should not be done for more than 60 minutes.
o Best way to begin: for 5 minutes walking slow (warm-up), then alternate walking fast (or jog) and slow. Try to increase duration of walking fast (or jog). Then at the end, do 2 -3 minutes of slow walking or stretching for cool-down.
o Best time for cardio training is in morning before breakfast.
o Don't get caught up in argument whether to do in morning or evening. If you can't do in morning, even at evening is also very good than doing nothing at all.
o Talking test: If you can carry conversation with an exercise partner or sing out to yourself with a small effort, then probably you are doing cardio training with proper intensity.
o One should drink water before, during and after workout in small amount. Take a sip, don't gulp!
o Abs exercises don't burn fat. Fat is stored throughout the body. You can't reduce fat from a particular area of body (spot reduce).

Weight/Strength/Resistance Training Guidelines : (they are roughly the same)

o Necessary to lose fat. Helps you burn more calories while you are sleeping (basal metabolic rate) and when not exercising. Necessary in a fat loss program to prevent muscle mass loss.
o Helps lowering stress, depression, stabilize BP and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints.
o Maintain a good form and lift in slow, controlled manner (2 sec to lift and 2 sec to lower) or else you are calling for injuries.
o Train both sides of body equally. Use same amt of weight in your left and right arms.
o Breathe out while lifting a weight, breathe in while lowering. Don't stop breathing while lifting (keeping you mouth open helps to avoid it)
o Warm up first with walking for 5 min (till you start sweating), then lift weights, and then do cool down with stretching.
o Here stretching is a must after workout to avoid stiffness, injury and fast recovery.
o Try to increase weight or sets or rep after every 2-3 workouts by some amount.
o When doing both weight training and cardio training same day, do in following order: Warm-up (for 5 min), weight training, cardio training, cool down with stretching.
o Don't exercise the same muscle groups two days in a row.
o One should drink water before, during and after workout in small amount. Take a sip, don't gulp!
o When you leave exercise, muscles don't turn into fat. They are two different tissues. Fat is gained only by improper diet and sedentary lifestyle.
o Weight strength training session should not last more than 45 minutes. If it so, reduce the resting time between sets.
o Add variety and change routine every 2 months. Focus on major compound exercises like squats, deadlift (all type-sumo, stiff legged, normal), pull-ups, push ups.

Stretching Guidelines : (static stretch)

o Helps reducing soreness, lessens recovery time between workouts.
o Never stretch cold muscles.
o Increase the range slowly and hold the final stretch for at least 20 sec. Do not bounce.
o Essential after weight training.

Read 'stretching faq' for good tips..google for it !!

NOTES:
o Take small steps. Many people start out full-throttle and end up injured or burned out.
o Maintain a log of exercise done. Before starting out you must know what you are going to do today to out time wastage.
o Know your goal. It is safe to lose weight up to 1 kg per week, though practically up to ¾ kg. If it is more than that, then it is water or muscle loss (not a good thing).
o Remember you deserve and can become healthy and fit.
o If you think you will start it from next week, month etc., probably you will never start it. Start eating good food from the next meal itself and exercise from same day or tomorrow, but no later.
o Even if you can't exercise for a day or two, don't give up. You CAN always start one more time. In fact, it happens with everyone.

>>>>Above material provided by Piyush Jain, he can be reached through piyush_cse at yahoo dot com