Every day we wake up, we open our eyes in the same room, same wall colors surrounding us. We go to the same work, or to school by the regular bus, crossing the usual streets, greeting with same people. We probably haven’t thought about the impact of these in our health as we consider them as ‘normal’. Think about it; when we find the song of our dreams, we listen to it for days while also experiencing the highest pleasure. But after a time we become bored of it, do not even want to hear it and no pleasure is left. It is the same for monotony in our everyday lives, our brain wants change! Except for the people who have been addicted to it:

Monotony can turn out to be an addiction.

Some people cannot live in monotony, they need excessive changes in their lives. Whereas other people, in contrast, becomes used to it. The monotony activities can turn out to be an addiction, and the person may even feel stressed if he does not do it. This could include when a person smokes cigarettes at a regular time, he becomes addicted to it. But in this case, it is not only limited to such examples. For instance, a person that has only one place –in this case, her room-  for studying for the exam, she becomes unconsciously addicted to the place, and cannot study anywhere else except their room. Or if a person has lived for years in the same place, changing their country may cause a psychological crisis to the individual. We have to avoid excessive monotony because if we become addicted to it, our brain functioning can be negatively affected.

Monotony restricts cognitive functioning.

The brain is the organ that develops as long as it is working constantly and another important factor is that it never gets tired. In order for a brain cell to survive, we should constantly send signals and warn them. And this can only be achieved if there is a change in our environment. Our brain improves when there are different, surprising stimuli. A Monotony restricts our cognitive functioning. Most of the psychologists claim that monotony and doing the same activities every day can have an impact on the recession of cognitive functioning and reduced performance.

So what is suggested?

In order to have a better brain functioning, you should avoid every single monotony. Change things that have become routine doing them every day. For example, we are not suggesting you to stop having long walks in the morning, but you should try to run in different places instead of running in the same paths. Or you can read a book every day, but you have to change your reading place. Also, doing small changes in your house – for example, changing the place of the bookshelf, table – can surprise, have a positive effect on your brain and help it develop.

It is associated with high levels of stress.

In my opinion, even thinking about wearing the same clothes, eating the same meal, doing the same activities every day makes me nervous.  A research done on this also agrees with me. They have concluded that monotony, besides being linked to reduced performance and quality of work, it is also associated with the experience of high levels of stress. That is why it is suggested to people diagnosed with depression to force themselves to have changes in their lives instead of not willing to get out from the bed all day.

Monotony prevents being attentive.

Although this may depend on the individual, in most cases monotony prevents us from giving our full attention to the task as long as it is also associated with boredom. If we do the same tasks, in the same environment, we might become bored of it even without being aware of the boredom we are experiencing. Consequently, we may have difficulties in concentration and attention.

Copyright: Dream Humanity