For some people, apparent laziness may actually be a sign of clinical depression, avolition, or other health conditions. Procrastination and lack of motivation may also be related to stress or burnout — something so many of us are feeling in the midst of the pandemic.
There's no simple cure for being lazy. The only way to overcome it is by setting your mind to the task and getting up and completing it. Start right now to develop the self-discipline you need to reach your goals.
Taking small steps toward better self-care, increased energy, improved goals, and healthy boundary setting can help you stop feeling lazy in no time. Prioritizing and taking consistent action steps are the key to long-term change and there is no better time than now to take those first steps.
Avolition is a total lack of motivation that makes it hard to get anything done. You can't start or finish even simple, everyday tasks.
Dr Tugnait says depression or anxiety can lead to feeling of lethargy and apathy. The expert says a person with low self-esteem is also at risk of feeling lazy all the time as they may believe they are not capable of accomplishing anything and may lack any sense of purpose.
No, laziness is not a formal symptom of depression. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders outlines eight symptoms of clinical depression (also known as major depression or major depressive disorder).
Realize that laziness is a symptom of your emotional state. Identify what's really making you act lazy. Explore what life will be like if you don't improve yourself. Determine what you want life to be like and get motivated.
A lack of motivation is often caused because you don't honestly believe in yourself and your abilities. When you're filled with self-doubts, it's difficult to start a task or project because you've already decided it won't turn out well and you want to avoid that eventual failure.
Sitting to meditate for even 10 minutes will stop overthinking in its tracks. Meditation is like a mirror that lets you look deep down into who you are and how things are going. With even a short meditation session you can witness the overthinking mind.
Lazy thinking and lazy behavior, like any other habits, can be broken. Laziness isn't something we're born with. It's a behavior we learned along the way. To become mentally tough, we need to overcome obstacles such as the bad habits we've learned that are keeping us from achieving our goals.
Laziness Is A Health Red Flag, Not A Character Flaw | RedRiver Health And Wellness Center. If you struggle with lack of motivation and low energy, you may beat yourself up and call yourself lazy. But science demonstrates laziness and lack of motivation are often red flags pointing to chronic inflammation.
It is linked to the development of chronic health problems like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, dementia and cancer. It can make us feel bad about ourselves, guilty and frustrated, appeased only with the ever alluring reward of inactivity – comfort, rest and stress-free.
While a lack of motivation is not an inherent sign of a mental disorder, it is often symptomatic of clinical depression. Avolition can be the primary symptom of certain mood disorders, such as bipolar depression, or a secondary feature of an anxiety disorder, such as post-trauma stress syndrome (PTSD).
Lack of motivation may be caused by stress, life changes, or underlying mental health conditions like adjustment disorder or depression. Low motivation can be remedied with activities that increase dopamine output, like physical exercise, behavioral activation, mindfulness, psychotherapy, and for some, medication.
Laziness may be a momentary state or an issue of character, but it is not a psychological disorder. Further, if you're concerned you might be lazy, ask yourself if you're feeling deeply sad, have disengaged from things you used to love, and are having problems with sleep, energy levels, or your ability to concentrate.
Laziness — a coping mechanism for other issues.
Finally, laziness is often thought of as “putting off' action since you possess “I don't care” attitude. Lordi says that this is a coping mechanism. “The lazy person is often intelligent, a great strategist, and works well under pressure.”
Researchers at the University of Oxford studied data from more than 90,000 people, and have identified a link between the newly discovered genes and activity levels. The discovery means that laziness could, in fact, be down to genetics.
This is because antidepressants can increase your energy and motivation levels, which may be very low while you are depressed. Early in your treatment, you may experience more energy and motivation before your feelings of depression have started to lift.
Science supports laziness
On average, people who are less physically active tend to be brainier than physically active people, according to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
A person is being lazy if he is able to carry out some activity that he ought to carry out, but is disinclined to do so because of the effort involved. Instead, he carries out the activity perfunctorily; or engages in some other, less strenuous or less boring activity; or remains idle.
Procrastination and laziness are two different concepts: procrastination involves delaying unnecessarily, whereas laziness involves being voluntarily unwilling to exert necessary effort.
Deeming behavior lazy is a matter of opinion, so it doesn't necessarily have a specific cause. There is research that suggests things like age, habitual behavior, environment, energy, willpower, personality, and level of distraction can make someone more likely to procrastinate or not.