Lately I have been so swamped!!!

Frankly I am my own worst enemy. I take on too much and then I am cranky and tired. What I really need to do is learn to say no. No, I’m sorry I don’t have time for that. I need to tell myself. No, you can’t fit that in. You can’t please everyone.

Multi tasking is actually bad for you. Interestingly enough it is a cause of dementia. “Frontal lobe function is the most fragile human brain function, and is altered in aging and impaired in most neuropsychiatric diseases [schizophrenia, autism, dementia, depression],” said Koechlin, a professor with the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris. “Understanding how the frontal lobe function works is fundamental to understanding cognitive aging and the nature of neuropsychiatric mental alterations.”

Apparently, the human brain is really only capable of handling two things at once. “Three-tasking [overwhelms] the capacity of human frontal function. Dual-tasking is alright,” explained study co-author Etienne Koechlin, whose research appears in the April 15 online issue of Science. “Human higher cognition is dual in essence, which can explain why people like binary choice and have difficulties in multiple choices [people can easily switch back and forth between two options before making a decision, but not across three alternatives].”

Ok, but in todays world our jobs, family commitments and lifestyle require our brain to work overtime. We are constantly on our smart phones and are texting while on the computer etc, etc, etc. I frequently find myself tasking at 5 things simultaneously.

No wonder I have been so exhausted! I’m ready to make some changes and be good to my brain. For me, no is the new yes.