Habitual Procrastination Could Be A Signal For Larger Health Problems, Finds Study

People who habitually procrastinate show signs of deeper health problems such as depression, anxiety, disabling pain and poor sleep quality, along with physical inactivity, reveals a report by Independent.

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The study assessed if kids who procrastinate have a higher risk of suffering from poor mental and physical health. For this study, they recruited 3.525 students from eight universities around Stockholm and asked them to complete questionnaires every three months for a year between August 19, 2019, and December 15, 2021.

Researchers looked at students’ self-reported procrastination that was gauged using 5 times from the Swedish version of the Pure Procrastination Scale rated on Likert scale from 1 (very rarely to 5 (very often).

The numbers were then summed to offer a total procrastination score that ranged from 5 to 25. Data from students were assessed to determine if procrastination was linked to worse health outcomes nine months later.?

At the follow-up after nine months, 16 self-reported health outcomes of the students were analysed. This included mental health problems including depression, anxiety, stress and disabling pain which included that of the neck and or upper back, lower back, as well as upper and lower extremities.?

Participants also reported unhealthy lifestyle behaviours such as poor sleep quality, tobacco use, physical inactivity, cannabis use, and skipping of breakfast, as well as psychosocial health factors such as loneliness, financial difficulties and overall health.

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Findings reveal that higher levels of procrastination self-reported by some participants were associated with significantly higher symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress around nine months later. Disabling pain, feelings of loneliness and economic difficulties as well as poor sleep quality.?

Researchers eventually conclude stating that the research sample is not fully representative of the overall Swedish student population and so it remains uncertain whether the estimates can be generalised to other populations.

The study added, “Furthermore, our measures were collected during the Covid-19 pandemic, which could affect generalizability to other time periods.”
“Although it seems that intervening in procrastination is unlikely to produce large associations with any specific health outcome, it could possibly produce small associations with a diverse set of different health outcomes.”