Can information overload affect your physical health?

We've seen a lot of statistics published in the last year about the growing amount of information available and the impact it has on individuals and businesses. There are three stats we wanted to look at more closely.

• Employee stress levels are increased when their inboxes grow by more than 50 messages a day... source
• 46.9% of respondents unable to answer all email... source
• 35% of knowledge workers suffer from health problems traceable back to information overload... source

The reason that stress can have a negative effect is in our biology. The oldest part of our brain is charged with keeping us alive and when it comes across a situation that requires action, it pumps us full of adrenaline so that we can either fight or run away - the "fight or flight" response. When we fight or flee we burn through the adrenaline. The problem in our modern workplaces, is that neither fighting or fleeing are typically seen as appropriate responses, meaning the adrenaline stays within our systems.

Too much adrenaline in our systems can effect every part of our body from hair, brain, mouth, muscles, heart, lungs, digestive tract, reproductive organs to skin. The American Institute of Stress has information outlining the many manifestations of stress. 

Now consider a typical modern work-day where a constant stream of messages arrive demanding a portion of your attention and a response. For many information workers that stream of messages can appear never-ending and they may feel unable to keep up the incoming torrent. These are classic conditions for developing stress related conditions.

In our next blog we look at how we can be healthy in our work even with the ever increasing volumes of information being created in the world today.