Dr. Kerry White Brown, an esteemed Orthodontist with nearly 20 years’ experience, looks the risks and dangers of multitasking on overall health.
Columbia, South Carolina — February 20, 2017 — Carolina Orthodontist Kerry Brown White recently published a new article, “Is Doing Too Much At the Same Time, Dangerous? Why Multitasking Is Horrible for Your Health.”
As Dr. White Brown explains, many moms (and people in general) “wear” their ability to multitask as if it a badge of honor. They seemingly take some level of pride in how much they can get done at one time, even if it appears to make them crazy in the process.
Yet, she asks, “Is the ability to be a multitasking master something to be proud of at all? Or could multitasking too much and too often be setting them up for big problems down the road?”
Dr. White Brown then refers to a Stanford University study that says multitasking can cause permanent damage to the body and the brain. For example, repeatedly multitasking over time reduces recall and diminishes our ability to pay attention. Further, it makes us more prone to mistakes.
She also addresses the idea that many seem to carry, that they are the exception to those rules. Specifically, she counters the idea that some people are “good multitaskers.” Dr. White Brown explains that the same Stanford study found that the very people who felt like they were excellent at multitasking, were worse at it than people who normally did one thing at a time.
She elaborates, “Those who considered themselves excellent multitaskers instead had problems organizing their thoughts, couldn’t filter out irrelevant information and didn’t switch between tasks efficiently. Regardless of what we think we individually can or can’t do, the brain can only focus on one thing at a time. Trying to make it do more, is an exercise in futility. In fact, attempting to do this repeatedly and routinely, over time, diminishes the brain’s capacity to focus on anything.”
Dr. White Brown goes on to explain that multitasking too much and for too long has also been shown to lower IQ. This seems to demonstrate that the damage is not temporary, but long-lasting or even life-long.
To read the full article, visit: https://www.whitebrownsmiles.com/is-doing-too-much-at-the-same-time-dangerous-why-multitasking-is-horrible-for-your-health/
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Dr. Kerry White Brown has been setting the standards for delivering high quality orthodontic care since 1998. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Benedict College she attended Howard University College of Dentistry, where she received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree and completed her orthodontic specialty training.
She is a member of the American Dental Association, American Association of Orthodontists, Southern Association of Orthodontists, South Carolina Association of Orthodontists and the North Carolina/South Carolina Damon® Study Club. Dr. White Brown is a native of Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina. She and her husband have two sons.
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