Scientists Say Thinking Hard Actually Hurts and Triggers Unpleasant Feelings

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If you've ever felt completely exhausted from spending a whole day seated at your desk, researchers might have found the reason behind this phenomenon.

Intense frustration, stress, and even physical discomfort frequently arise from deep thinking, as revealed by a significant new research study.

Consequently, the Dutch researchers who conducted the study emphasize that employers ought to put greater effort into 'acknowledging and assisting' employees when they take on challenging tasks.

Workers in Europe tended to experience greater discomfort than their counterparts in Asia, and they also expressed a strong aversion to mental exertion, the researchers noted.

According to Erik Bijleveld, PhD, from Radboud University, the more significant the exertion, the more distress individuals tend to endure. Netherlands , who headed the research. "When individuals have to put significant mental effort into something, it’s crucial to ensure they receive appropriate support or rewards for their efforts."

The research, featured in the journal Psychological Bulletin, encompassed a meta-analysis of 170 studies conducted from 2019 to 2020 with a total participation of 4,670 individuals. This analysis aimed to explore how humans typically perceive mental exertion.

They examined whether mental exertion is linked to negative sensations and if these sensations vary based on the specific task or the group of people involved.

The research encompassed a diverse group of participants such as healthcare workers, military personnel, recreational athletes, and university students from 29 different nations.

Over 350 cognitive tasks were included in the research, encompassing activities like mastering a new technological device, navigating through an unknown setting, rehearsing golf swings, and engaging in a virtual reality gaming session.

Across all analyzed studies, participants indicated the amount of effort they put forth along with the degree to which they felt negative emotions like frustration, irritability, stress, or annoyance.

Dr Bijleveld stated, "It is common for managers to motivate their employees, and for teachers to inspire their students, to put more mental effort into their work."

'Superficially, this appears to be effective since employees and students frequently choose tasks that stimulate their minds.'

'This might make you think that both employees and students relish putting in mental effort, but the findings indicate that generally, most individuals actually avoid intellectual exertion.'

The more strenuous the endeavor, the more discomfort individuals endure.

It's crucial for experts like engineers and teachers to remember this when they're developing tasks, tools, interfaces, applications, resources, or guidelines.

The link between mental exertion and negative emotions appeared weaker in studies carried out in Asian nations as opposed to those performed in Europe or North America.

Dr. Bijleveld proposes that this aligns with the notion that one's response to mental exertion could be influenced by their past experiences of learning.

He mentioned that high school students in Asian nations often dedicate more hours to academic tasks compared to their peers in Europe and North America, which might help them develop greater tolerance for mental strain at an earlier stage in life.

Even though certain tasks can be intellectually demanding, people often choose to take them on willingly. Employers might find it advantageous to keep this in mind, as noted by Dr. Bijleveld.

'For instance, why do countless individuals enjoy playing chess? They might discover that putting mental effort into certain activities tends to result in rewards.'

'If the advantages of playing chess surpass the disadvantages, individuals might opt to engage in chess and may even claim that they find enjoyment in it.'

Still, when individuals opt for tasks requiring significant cognitive exertion, this shouldn’t be interpreted as evidence that they actually derive pleasure from mental effort. It may well be that people engage in cognitively demanding activities even though they find them challenging, rather than due to their inherent enjoyment of such efforts.