Scientists from the University of Houston in the United States concluded that deadlines do not increase the level of stress in mental work. It can To read In the scientific journal Proceedings of the ACM Human Factors in Computing.
The study’s authors decided to investigate the sympathetic nervous system, which is activated during stress reactions. To do this, they selected 10 university employees working from the office, whose facial expressions were monitored by the experiment’s organizers two days before the deadline and one more day in freelance mode. The scientists also measured the subjects’ perspiration per second to determine their stress level.
Based on the results of the experiment, the scientists concluded that the researchers experienced the activation of the sympathetic nervous system during the working day, which indicates the complexity of their profession. To the surprise of scientists, the work of the sympathetic nervous system remains at approximately the same intensity both during and without deadlines.
The researchers also noticed that the work of the sympathetic nervous system becomes much more intense if employees use their smartphones frequently and respond to messages. Additionally, as stress increased, participants were twice as likely to take a break, which may indicate the limits of cognitive abilities with increased stress.