Please, readers! If you experience disinterest, apathy, ennui, malaise, dysthymia, lassitude, or neurasthenia as you peruse this essay… click away to safety! If you sense your cognition tumbling towards a fetid swamp of brain-paralyzing boredom — abandon me! I don’t want your death on my conscience.
Boredom is a killer, suggests an essay in the April 2010 International Journal of Epidemiology. Researchers Annie Britton and Martin Shipley at University College London examined questionnaires completed by 7,524 civil workers in 1985-1988 that queried the bureaucrats on their interest level regarding work. Multiple-choice options ranged from experiencing boredom “not at all” to “all the time.” In 2009, the surveyors reconnected with their subjects. They discovered that those who expressed severe job boredom were 2.5 times more likely to be dead of cardiovascular disease. Their conclusion: “those who report being bored are more likely to die younger than those who are not bored.”
See also: Why boredom is exhausting
July 20, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Interesting. I read an article two weeks ago that stated we do not have enough boredom in our lives. The author’s claim was that boredom fosters imagination, and our lives are too busy and connected to allow creative though.
July 20, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Wes – I would argue that “boredom” and “busyness” aren’t mutually exclusive. What we need is not more boredom but more free time.
July 20, 2010 at 8:56 pm
You can be busy and bored…same old same old I think is what this means. Step over to the dark side and buy a B&B, you will never be bored, never the same guests or the same old same old! Innkeeper from the Claiborne House B&B in Rocky Mount, VA
July 21, 2010 at 5:23 am
Good to know. Bordom can lead to latency as well.
July 21, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I think that medical surveys shouldn’t be allowed to be published without the supervision of a statistics specialist.
From what I understood, we could also imply that people who is more exposed to cardiovascular disease (e.g.: overweight, lack of physical exercises, poor eating habits) are more likely to feel bored.
There is no way to determine which is the cause and which is the consequence.
Although I am always critic of any medical survey, I think this article is very interesting. A few days ago I was wondering if it is possible to actually die from boredom. Now I know that boredom can be and red alert of a higher risk of an early death.
May 24, 2011 at 1:08 pm
There are actually loads of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to carry up. I offer the ideas above as basic inspiration however clearly there are questions like the one you carry up where a very powerful factor can be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if greatest practices have emerged round things like that, but I’m sure that your job is clearly identified as a good game. Each girls and boys really feel the influence of only a momentís pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.