Bad news if you were planning on not doing something that you'd planned on doing. Wait, now we're confused.
Be that as it may, one thing we know is that new research shows that procrastination is bad for your heart, as well as for getting anything important done. At some stage or another we've all decided that reorganising our CD collection is more important than studying for that exam, or that all of a sudden the TV show we're watching is our favourite show ever and we have to finish it, even if it's late '90s comedy-drama Jack & Jill. You see, he was Jill and she was Jack...ah you wouldn't understand.
Anyway, it seems that the Journal of Behavioral Medicine published some research on the topic which found that self-admitted procrastinators are more likely to have heart disease than their counterparts who are filled with get up and go.
The study came from Bishop's University in Quebec, and was lead by Fuschia M. Sirois, who gave a questionnaire to two groups of people, one group who were healthy and another who suffered from hypertension and cardiovascular disease. One of the questions measured how likely they were to put things off, and the results showed that the group who suffered from heart problems tended to be procrastinators.
The study didn't look at the reasons why the two may be linked, but The Science of Us have a few ideas of their own, which make a bit of sense: "procrastinators may be likely to put off dreary chores like exercising or eating healthily, and the avoidance of these can of course lead to chronic health issues, like heart disease". They also posit the theory that when those people do have to do those tasks (there's no getting away from the stuff you don't want to do, really) then they have less time to do them, and they become more stressed as a result.
So, there you have it, you'd better get up and...do...something, or whatever? Ah screw it, you do have the internet open already.
Via The Science of Us. Main pic via Olivia Mew/Flickr
