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Task-switching burns glucose, and a five-minute walk buys it back

via Free yourself from 'information overload'

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AI-generated writing.

Manoush Zomorodi (TED Radio Hour host, author of Body Electric) traces “infomania” — the compulsion to keep taking in information — back to 13th-century worries about overloaded brains. Signs of overload include an eye twitch, trouble sleeping, a spinning head, and trouble concentrating, but the more counterintuitive point is that much of the interruption is self-inflicted: researcher Gloria Mark found up to half of daily task-switching happens with no external trigger at all, once the brain gets used to that rhythm from checking email, X, and Instagram back to back.

Her main fix is to set an “information goal” before opening a phone or browser — know what you’re there for, get it, and stop — rather than drifting from tab to tab. A close second is time-boxing: block off the hardest cognitive work for earlier in the day, signal unavailability (a Slack status, a closed door, a calendar block) during it, and save low-effort tasks like email for when the brain is already tired.

The physiological detail worth remembering: every task-switch burns glucose and oxygen, and the buildup of CO2 from that process is what produces brain fog and the urge to reach for sugar. Scrolling on a break doesn’t fix this because it’s still burning glucose — but in Zomorodi’s clinical trial, five minutes of walking at 2 mph, done four to five times a day, cut fatigue by up to 28%.

The episode’s five explicit takeaways:

  1. Watch for the signs — eye twitching, trouble sleeping, a head that feels like it’s spinning, trouble concentrating, or catching yourself interrupting your own work.
  2. Set information goals — decide what you’re looking for before opening your phone or computer, and stop once you’ve found it.
  3. Minimize task-switching — try time-boxing, and signal your availability to others (calendar blocks, a Slack status, a closed door).
  4. Stop interrupting yourself — when you catch the urge to check something, pause and decide if you actually need to switch tasks right now.
  5. Beware double- or triple-screening — splitting attention across two or three screens at once (say, TV plus phone plus laptop) burns through information fast; when you feel that fatigue, get up and move instead of reaching for another screen.