*Why are some people lazier than others?
If you’re inclined to park off on the couch,
watch TV and do very little else, you may
rightfully be labelled “lazy”. You may even feel a
tad indignant when your friends jokingly call
you a sloth, a slacker or a couch potato. But
did you know there could be a valid medical
reason for your love of lazing?
*What, exactly, is laziness?
Laziness is a “a disinclination to activity or
exertion despite having the ability to do so”,
according to Wikipedia.org .
UK psychiatrist and book author Dr Neel
Burton has another way of describing this
common affliction. On Psychology Today, he
notes that a person is being lazy if he’s able to
carry out some activity that he ought to carry
out, but is reluctant to do so because of the
effort involved.
Instead, the person carries out the activity
perfunctorily, or engages in some other, less
strenuous or less boring activity, or remains
idle.
For some, laziness can take the shape of
avolition – a more serious form of laziness that
may be caused by an underlying mental health
problem, including a sleep disorder,
schizophrenia, depression or attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
*Laziness and psychology
Dr Burton believes that many lazy people aren’t
intrinsically lazy. Instead, he asserts they’re lazy
because they haven’t found what they want to
do, or because they’re not doing it for one
reason or another.
Some of these reasons, he adds, could be fear
or hopelessness. He says some people fear
success, or have insufficient self-esteem to feel
comfortable with success. For them, laziness is
one way to sabotage themselves.
On the other hand, some people fear failure.
“They view laziness as preferable to failure
because they tell themselves it’s not that they
failed, but rather that they never tried.”
When it comes to feelings of hopelessness, Dr
Burton comments that some people are lazy
because they see their situation as being so
bleak that they can’t even begin to think
through it, let alone address it.
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*Possible medical reasons
If these psychological reasons don’t explain
your laziness, you may be interested to know
that the problem may lie in your genes.
The newly discovered “coach-potato gene”
produces a protein in the dopamine system of
the brain, making some people less inclined to
do physical activity. Study leader Professor Wei
Li from the Institute of Genetics and
Developmental Biology in Beijing led the study
published in PLOS Genetics.
Together with co-author Professor John
Speakman of the University of Aberdeen, Prof Li
compared normal mice with those that had the
mutated gene, and found that mice with the
mutation had significantly fewer of this type of
dopamine receptor on the surface of their brain
cells. Instead, the dopamine receptors were
trapped within the cells, resulting in
dysfunctional signalling.
Prof Li commented that, much like humans, the
mice with the gene mutation were “typical
couch potatoes”, walking only about a third as
much as a normal mouse would. When they did
move, they walked more slowly. They were also
more likely to develop health problems and gain
weight.
However, when treated with a drug that
stimulates dopamine receptors, the problem was
reversed and the affected mice became leaner
and more active. This has raised the possibility
of developing medication to reduce laziness in
humans. Unfortunately, these mutations seem
to be rare, affecting only about one in 200
people.
*How to overcome laziness
Assuming you haven’t been too lazy to read up
until this point, you may ask whether it’s
possible to overcome your laziness. Yes, it is
and these steps, published on a Wikihow blog ,
could do the trick:
√Uncovered the cause: Try to establish the real issue
behind your laziness. Every time you get into
laze mode, ask yourself what’s happening that
holds you back and causing your lack of
motivation. It may be that you’re tired,
overwhelmed, fearful or simply uninspired and
“stuck”. It may be easier than you think to
move past the inertia once you actually know
the cause.
Focus on fixing the problem. The best way to deal
with anything (yes, even laziness) is to address
it head on. Mull over the following:
• Tired and fatigued? Set aside time to relax,
even if you have to adapt your schedule to
accommodate it.
• Feeling stressed and overwhelmed? Take
baby steps, not huge strides. Find ways to
simplify your life and tackle a single thing at a
time.
• If you're fearful, try and discover what’s
making you afraid. It might be that you’re
frightened of reaching your potential.
• If you’re sad or hurting, give yourself time
to heal. Negative emotions like sadness, anger
and grief don’t just disappear on their own, so
don’t pressurise yourself too much to spring
back to normal. Get help from a therapist, if
necessary.
Written by: Lauren Burley Copley
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