How Constantly Staying Busy Affects Our Well-Being

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Staying busy is often seen as a badge of honor and a marker of self-worth, with a lack of leisure time viewed as a direct indication of status.However, over-scheduling ourselves to the point where we are always busy can negatively affect our physical andemotional wellness, also impacting our ability to maintain healthy relationships.

At a GlanceWhile staying busy may boost our self-esteem, if we are so busy that we’re unable to practice self-care, spend time with loved ones, and enjoy our free time, it can have a harmful effect on our overall well-being. Disconnecting from work or unnecessary obligations and deliberately resting and taking time for ourselves can significantly boost our quality of life.

At a Glance

While staying busy may boost our self-esteem, if we are so busy that we’re unable to practice self-care, spend time with loved ones, and enjoy our free time, it can have a harmful effect on our overall well-being. Disconnecting from work or unnecessary obligations and deliberately resting and taking time for ourselves can significantly boost our quality of life.

Why We Love Staying Busy

Culturally, there has also been a shift in status perception in that material objects and goods are no longer the only indicator of one’s social standing. Now, individuals who are busy at work, overworked, and have a lack of leisure time are perceived as having a higher status.

In addition, some people are always busy as a way to avoid or numbpainful feelingsand situations.By staying super busy, they are unable to focus on what may be bothering them or causing them discomfort beneath the surface.

How to Unlink Your Self-Worth From Your Work

Busy vs. Productive

Being busy andbeing productivecan often be confused with one another. If we are busy, we may have a lot on our plate but this doesn’t necessarily mean that we are being productive or using our time efficiently.

Being productive means being able to complete a task or get something done. We do not need to be busy in order to be productive.

Being busy has to do with how we spend our time, whereas productivity has more to do with what we accomplish.

Impacts of Being Always Busy

Emotional Health

When busyness is glorified and encouraged, we may end up overextending ourselves with varied obligations, commitments, and responsibilities. The emotional consequences of being always busy include having feelings of:

If we are unable to complete tasks or uphold obligations, we may end upfeeling guilty, or as if we’ve let ourselves or others down. If we derive our self-worth through being productive and completing tasks, feeling as if we’re falling short can impact our perception of ourselves.

When being overly busy leads to an increase in stress and/or decreased self-esteem, this may trigger more serious mental health disorders. This includesanxiety disorders, depression, andsubstance use disorders.

Studies have also found that moderate to high levels of busyness can lead to reduced medication adherence, especially in older adults.This can be harmful to their emotional health if the medications are prescribed for mental health issues.

Physical Health

Busyness may lead to sacrificing our physical well-being for the sake of getting tasks done. This can include not prioritizing exercise as much as we’d like or notgetting as much sleep as our body needs. We may also find ourselves ignoring or pushing aside any physical health concerns instead of seeing a doctor right away.

Press Play for Advice On Completing TasksThis episode ofThe Verywell Mind Podcastshares how to get tasks done with a science-backed trick known as ‘temptation bundling.’ Click below to listen now.

Press Play for Advice On Completing Tasks

This episode ofThe Verywell Mind Podcastshares how to get tasks done with a science-backed trick known as ‘temptation bundling.’ Click below to listen now.

Relationships

Demanding schedules can leave little to no time formeaningful connections with others. This can leave busy people feeling isolated and lonely. Those around them can also sometimes feel rejected or angry with the person’s lack of availability.

Our relationships with friends, family, and spouses may suffer if we have an overextended schedule.

Work-Life Balance

Constantly staying busy can lead to poorwork-life balance, impacting our ability to experience healthy work and home environments in which we can thrive. While this balance will look different for each unique individual, in general, if we have it, we feel more in control of and comfortable with how our time is spent.

Conversely, if our work-life balance is thrown off, we may experience burnout and feel overworked, exhausted, and disconnected from our social and/or family life. Poor work-life balance can also lead tochronic stress, which can impact our mental and physical health.

Staying Busy Isn’t Always a Bad Thing

To be fair, living a busy life isn’t always associated with negative consequences. For example, some studies have found that in older age, being busier is linked with cognitive advantages such as:

It’s when staying busy negatively impacts one’s life that it becomes an issue. This includes when it is harmful to our health (whether mentally or physically), when it hurts our relationships, or when it creates a work-life imbalance.

What Does ‘Cognitive’ Mean in Psychology?

Tips to Overcome Staying Busy

Everyone will have their own idea of what being too busy means to them. If we feeloverworked, overwhelmed, or burned out, it’s important to prioritize our health and wellness. Although it may feel difficult to shift our priorities and our time, doing so may lead to increased mental and physical well-being, as well as more connected relationships with our loved ones.

Here are a few tips to overcome being always busy:

We all deserve to take time for ourselves, whether that means a full vacation or mini breaks during the day. Doing so is an important reminder to ourselves that we are worthy and valuable individuals.

Life Plan Strategies for Busy People

10 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Waytz A.Beware a culture of busyness. Harvard Business Review.Bellezza S, Paharia N, Keinan A.Conspicuous consumption of time: When busyness and lack of leisure time become a status symbol.J Consum Res. 2017;44(1):118–138. doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw076Miller C, Townsend M, Grenyar B.Understanding chronic feelings of emptiness in borderline personality disorder: a qualitative study.Borderline Personal Dis Emotion Dysregul. 2021;8:24. doi:10.1186/s40479-021-00164-8Lua V, Majeed N, Leung A, Haranto A.A daily within-person investigation on the link between social expectancies to be busy and emotional wellbeing: the moderating role of emotional complexity acceptance.Cognit Emot. 2022;36(4):773-780. doi:10.1080/02699931Moore G, Fardghassemi S, Joffe H.Wellbeing in the city: Young adults' sense of loneliness and social connection in deprived urban neighbourhoods.Wellbeing Space Society. 2023;5:101172. doi:10.1016/j.wss.2023.100172Klinehinst T, Opsasnick L, Benavente J, Wolf M, O’Conor R.The roles of busyness and daily routine in medication management behaviors among older adults.J Appl Gerentol. 2022;41(12):2566-2573. doi:10.1177/07334648221120246Stamp A, Pederson L, Ingwersen K, Sørensen D.Behavioural typologies of experienced benefit of psychomotor therapy in patients with chronic shoulder pain: A grounded theory approach.Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018;31:229-235. doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.03.001Tadaki S, Sakata Y, Miura Y, et al.Factors limiting habitual exercise in patients with chronic heart failure: a multicenter prospective cohort study.Heart Vessels. 2020;35:655-664. doi:10.1007/s00380-019-01529-4Borowiec A, Drygas W.Work-life balance and mental and physical health among Warsaw specialists, managers and entrepreneurs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(1):492. doi:10.3390/ijerph20010492Festini SB.Busyness, mental engagement, and stress: Relationships to neurocognitive aging and behavior.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:980599. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.980599

10 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Waytz A.Beware a culture of busyness. Harvard Business Review.Bellezza S, Paharia N, Keinan A.Conspicuous consumption of time: When busyness and lack of leisure time become a status symbol.J Consum Res. 2017;44(1):118–138. doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw076Miller C, Townsend M, Grenyar B.Understanding chronic feelings of emptiness in borderline personality disorder: a qualitative study.Borderline Personal Dis Emotion Dysregul. 2021;8:24. doi:10.1186/s40479-021-00164-8Lua V, Majeed N, Leung A, Haranto A.A daily within-person investigation on the link between social expectancies to be busy and emotional wellbeing: the moderating role of emotional complexity acceptance.Cognit Emot. 2022;36(4):773-780. doi:10.1080/02699931Moore G, Fardghassemi S, Joffe H.Wellbeing in the city: Young adults' sense of loneliness and social connection in deprived urban neighbourhoods.Wellbeing Space Society. 2023;5:101172. doi:10.1016/j.wss.2023.100172Klinehinst T, Opsasnick L, Benavente J, Wolf M, O’Conor R.The roles of busyness and daily routine in medication management behaviors among older adults.J Appl Gerentol. 2022;41(12):2566-2573. doi:10.1177/07334648221120246Stamp A, Pederson L, Ingwersen K, Sørensen D.Behavioural typologies of experienced benefit of psychomotor therapy in patients with chronic shoulder pain: A grounded theory approach.Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018;31:229-235. doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.03.001Tadaki S, Sakata Y, Miura Y, et al.Factors limiting habitual exercise in patients with chronic heart failure: a multicenter prospective cohort study.Heart Vessels. 2020;35:655-664. doi:10.1007/s00380-019-01529-4Borowiec A, Drygas W.Work-life balance and mental and physical health among Warsaw specialists, managers and entrepreneurs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(1):492. doi:10.3390/ijerph20010492Festini SB.Busyness, mental engagement, and stress: Relationships to neurocognitive aging and behavior.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:980599. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.980599

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Waytz A.Beware a culture of busyness. Harvard Business Review.Bellezza S, Paharia N, Keinan A.Conspicuous consumption of time: When busyness and lack of leisure time become a status symbol.J Consum Res. 2017;44(1):118–138. doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw076Miller C, Townsend M, Grenyar B.Understanding chronic feelings of emptiness in borderline personality disorder: a qualitative study.Borderline Personal Dis Emotion Dysregul. 2021;8:24. doi:10.1186/s40479-021-00164-8Lua V, Majeed N, Leung A, Haranto A.A daily within-person investigation on the link between social expectancies to be busy and emotional wellbeing: the moderating role of emotional complexity acceptance.Cognit Emot. 2022;36(4):773-780. doi:10.1080/02699931Moore G, Fardghassemi S, Joffe H.Wellbeing in the city: Young adults' sense of loneliness and social connection in deprived urban neighbourhoods.Wellbeing Space Society. 2023;5:101172. doi:10.1016/j.wss.2023.100172Klinehinst T, Opsasnick L, Benavente J, Wolf M, O’Conor R.The roles of busyness and daily routine in medication management behaviors among older adults.J Appl Gerentol. 2022;41(12):2566-2573. doi:10.1177/07334648221120246Stamp A, Pederson L, Ingwersen K, Sørensen D.Behavioural typologies of experienced benefit of psychomotor therapy in patients with chronic shoulder pain: A grounded theory approach.Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018;31:229-235. doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.03.001Tadaki S, Sakata Y, Miura Y, et al.Factors limiting habitual exercise in patients with chronic heart failure: a multicenter prospective cohort study.Heart Vessels. 2020;35:655-664. doi:10.1007/s00380-019-01529-4Borowiec A, Drygas W.Work-life balance and mental and physical health among Warsaw specialists, managers and entrepreneurs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(1):492. doi:10.3390/ijerph20010492Festini SB.Busyness, mental engagement, and stress: Relationships to neurocognitive aging and behavior.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:980599. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.980599

Waytz A.Beware a culture of busyness. Harvard Business Review.

Bellezza S, Paharia N, Keinan A.Conspicuous consumption of time: When busyness and lack of leisure time become a status symbol.J Consum Res. 2017;44(1):118–138. doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw076

Miller C, Townsend M, Grenyar B.Understanding chronic feelings of emptiness in borderline personality disorder: a qualitative study.Borderline Personal Dis Emotion Dysregul. 2021;8:24. doi:10.1186/s40479-021-00164-8

Lua V, Majeed N, Leung A, Haranto A.A daily within-person investigation on the link between social expectancies to be busy and emotional wellbeing: the moderating role of emotional complexity acceptance.Cognit Emot. 2022;36(4):773-780. doi:10.1080/02699931

Moore G, Fardghassemi S, Joffe H.Wellbeing in the city: Young adults' sense of loneliness and social connection in deprived urban neighbourhoods.Wellbeing Space Society. 2023;5:101172. doi:10.1016/j.wss.2023.100172

Klinehinst T, Opsasnick L, Benavente J, Wolf M, O’Conor R.The roles of busyness and daily routine in medication management behaviors among older adults.J Appl Gerentol. 2022;41(12):2566-2573. doi:10.1177/07334648221120246

Stamp A, Pederson L, Ingwersen K, Sørensen D.Behavioural typologies of experienced benefit of psychomotor therapy in patients with chronic shoulder pain: A grounded theory approach.Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018;31:229-235. doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.03.001

Tadaki S, Sakata Y, Miura Y, et al.Factors limiting habitual exercise in patients with chronic heart failure: a multicenter prospective cohort study.Heart Vessels. 2020;35:655-664. doi:10.1007/s00380-019-01529-4

Borowiec A, Drygas W.Work-life balance and mental and physical health among Warsaw specialists, managers and entrepreneurs.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(1):492. doi:10.3390/ijerph20010492

Festini SB.Busyness, mental engagement, and stress: Relationships to neurocognitive aging and behavior.Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:980599. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.980599

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