Dealing with Cognitive Load during Pandemic
With pandemic hitting in 2020, sudden switch to home working meant an intense work/life conflict for me.
I on daily basis struggled to focus on work while helping my toddler or handling house chores because most of the support system collapsed with pandemic.
It pushed me into unpredictable new routine. I like predictability. This was not something that I was prepared for.
Few months down the line, I started experiencing exhaustion. Multiple things played out here. Boundaries blurred, overall workload increased, no change of scene. This impacted all aspects of life and health too. I had to do something.
- I re-looked at my day and my tasks. I prioritised and de-prioritised ruthlessly.
- I adjusted my expectations that its ok to have messy house, its ok to hear kids noise in the background, its ok to excuse from the call.
- Asked for help wherever I could.
- Scheduled breaks in my calendar.
- Included more movement in my day.
These things helped. But itch in me to delve into more details, led me to CLT (Cognitive Load Theory). Once I read it, I could see its linkages everywhere in my day to day life.
Here is my attempt to share what I learnt with hope that others can benefit from this information.
First, What is Cognitive Load Theory?
Psychologist John Sweller defined cognitive load as “the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory”.
Overload occurs when the total amount of load induced by the environment or task exceeds the capacity of the human working memory. It mentions that human working memory is limited. To carry out daily tasks, to and fro happens between human working memory and long term memory. Once we have completed a task, info around this gets moved to long term memory and stored as schemas. Each to and fro costs energy to our brain.
In Nutshell, human cognitive resources can only deal with a certain number of tasks at the same time without running into some difficulty.
With Pandemic ringing the bell and shift to home working, lot of uncertainty loomed around. To manage multiple demands, most of us had to multitask. Multitasking has been found to increase the production of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the fight-or-flight hormone adrenaline. According to Cognitive Psychologist Levitin’s work, the resulting cognitive overload has serious physiological effects on the brain. Levitin stated that multitasking to the point of brain fatigue leads to “a depleted state in which, after making lots of insignificant decisions, we can end up making truly bad decisions about something important.”
Let’s take a simple example, Imagine you have a deliverable and trying to focus on completing the work related to it. At same time, kid comes and asks you to read a book . You will try reasoning with the kid but book needs to be read. And at same you hear doorbell ring. Delivery boy has come with the grocery you ordered. Imagine such scenario repeating multiple time in a day. Multiple context switching and multiple demands on your brain, stress will creep in. It will impact the bandwidth too.
The idea of sharing it is for people to become aware of cognitive load concept. Also, to have the verbiage to talk about it. At least, thats the first step.
Though much research has been conducted on the consequences of cognitive overload, there’s still work left to be done regarding how people can confront its negative effects. Not one pill fits all. There are different tactics that people can employ in attempt to mitigate the detrimental effects of brain fatigue or cognitive overload. Sharing few here that I tried :
- Focus on one task at a time
“The quickest way to do many things is to do one thing at a time.” — Christopher Westra
Research has found that focusing on one task at a time results in lower stress level and higher productivity.
2. Limit or get rid of distractions
Try different ways to limit distraction for you. Use Do Not Disturb mode on laptop, phone, messengers.
I usually reserve time in day to check emails, notifications, etc. This way I can avoid looking at phone every 5 mins. In evening, I keep my phone away from my sight. If there is something urgent, I know people can call.
You can even timebox tasks. Focus on one task at one time.
3. Ask Questions
Lot of time cognitive overload happens as some information is missing or person sharing information assumes something. It’s better to ask question to gather the information rather than keep pondering later.
4. Take Timely Short breaks
Schedule 5, 10 min breaks every few hours. You can listen to music, do a short dance, hydrate yourself, play or take care of something.
I have it scheduled in my work calendar.
5. Take tasks off the brain
One way to do it is to write down list of tasks in a notebook. I even use it while switching task or even while going to bed. It’s like I take the load off to the paper and decide to look at it later.
6. Ensure balance of activities
Balance your menu of daily activities with music, silence, exercise, walks, etc. Include something that is fun/recreational for you and helps you switch off your brain and give it some rest.
7. Put head phones if needed
If its too noisy for you, use a head phone.
8. Ask for support, Say ‘No’
If you have too much on the plate, it’s ok to say ‘No’ at times or ask for help. I didn’t sign up for extra as I had no mental space. Me and my partner worked out the schedule to manage our day. We synched our calendars so we can plan our day better and take care of kid and stuff. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.
In India, we can lean on our parents. I asked for support from my mom as it was still unsustainable for us.
These are few ways that I used to tackle cognitive load. Hope you find it useful. Now its time for you to pay attention to your cognitive health. Do not take it for granted. Take time to relax in between.
Disclaimer : I am not a psychologist or neuroscientist. I am writing from my experience and from my interest in this area. If you need more help, do reach out to professional.
