Multitasking is not always good

In today's competitive world, we respond to the many pressing demands on our time by multitasking - simultaneously doing as many things as possible, as quickly as possible, using the power of as many technologies as possible.

Multitasking is a trick that we play on ourselves, thinking we're capable, but in reality our productivity goes down by as much as 40 per cent! Research shows that heavy multitaskers are less competent at doing several things at once than light multitaskers.

In other words, the more you multitask, the worse you are at it. Research also shows that multitasking isn't just inefficient, it's stressful. It affects the brain's learning systems, and we do not learn as well when we are distracted.

Psychologists warn that multitasking activities such as responding to emails, SMSs, surfing the net, on top of what you are supposed to be doing, is not ideal in the long run as it creates a 'bottleneck' of responses in the brain and causes stress.

Psychiatrists say our brain needs about three seconds to adapt to a fresh set of rules for a new task. When we do different tasks at the same time, our brain is forced to hold rules and methods to maintain the flow of activity.

The total time taken on all tasks is about a third more than if they were all performed in sequence. As the brain co-opts short-term memory for a task it was not designed for, these multitaskers risk burnout.

In today's fast paced lives, how can one go back to mono-tasking? One of the psychiatrist says, "People get so used to being busy that when they have time for themselves, they don't know what to do.

They feel restless, fidgety and even anxious. The other fallout is burnout. As a result, people get overstretched, overanxious and reach a stage of physical and emotional exhaustion."

Doctors warn that if corrective action is not taken in the initial stages, it might lead to chronic pain, resulting in tendonitis, repetitive stress injury, etc, which may later call for surgical intervention.