What is The Cognitive Cost Of Our Health Relating to Covid-19

What does Cognitive Mean?

The cognitive cost of health -COVID! Cognitive costs deriving from divergent mindsets. Those may be costs due to conflicts which have their origin in incompatible worldviews or costs induced by learning.

In an effort to bring differing mental patterns and knowledge closer.

COVID 19 Causing Distractions of Cognitive Functions

What’s causing distractions (external or internal?)

Studies have found that most people suffered from both internal and external interruptions.

Meaning that they interrupted themselves and were also victims of outside interruptions which we have all suffered from COVID 19. 

Most managers are primarily the target of external interruptions, the average worker distracts him/herself almost as much as others do!

What can you do about interruptions?

The bottom line is that every worker is surrounded by interruptions caused both by self and others. 

It’s difficult to control for internal interruptions, but you can control for external interruptions. 

A more recent development has been the use of office sound masking, the use of low-level white noise to cover office noise. As most office workers have a lot of disruptions with having to work from home and adjust to new routines to work affectively.

Keeping a routine can help with less distraction, more focus, fewer errors, and lower stress levels.

As a manager, it’s important to recognize that many interruptions are necessary. 

However, it’s equally important to recognize the strain they put on workers, as well as the hit productivity takes.

How Long Did It Take to Get Back On Task?

When a worker is interrupted, he or she usually doesn’t get right back on task. 

There are normally 2 intervening tasks before focusing on the original task. 

It takes more effort to reorient oneself to the context of that task.  Interruptions are often accompanied by physical changes to the work environment. 

Whether the worker shifted files, opened or closed windows, shot out a quick email, or answered a phone call as a result of the interruption (or interrupter.

With working from home, we have family members and our surrounding are now very different from the office environment.

Look at the physical layout of the workspace at home.

Make sure it is set aside a place that is separate from the home environment.

Set boundaries with family members.

There’s a cognitive cost to an interruption.”

What Can We Do To Recover Performance?

Rest, rest and more rest.

Overwhelming a cognitively compromised brain will make it worse, not improve fitness.

 A phased return to work rather than jumping in would be ideal.

If not, then balancing the day in terms of quiet/busy periods rather than back to back meetings.

Remember than noisy environments, video calls and conference calls are a massive drain on the brain in any circumstance.

Try to buffer these where possible.

One of the scariest things about developing executive function weakness is feeling out of control, embarrassed, isolated and afraid.

Bring in a psychologist to run an awareness session for managers, send out a company email to signpost for support.

Approach individuals who might be affected and ask if they are okay.

Sometimes, just voicing what’s happening and talking through a schedule or a to-do list makes all the difference.

Your staff need to know that this is a ‘permissible problem’ to ask for help with.

Use assistive technology and memory tools.

Assistants, diary management tools, mind mapping and project management software.

Similar the way an employee used to do in their heads they now have to write or sketch out.

There are lots of different ways to do externalize your short-term memory capacity.

So I recommend exploring and seeking professional advice if you get stuck.

The neurominority community are experts at this.

You can organise workshops online on managing memory drains, working at your best, organizational skills and time management.

One on One Coaching Sessions

Bring in a specialist one-to-one coach for people who you are worried about.

In these sessions, a facilitator/coach will help generate strategies and get people using tech that is suitable for your business.

We’re keeping tabs on the longer-term psychological effects of Covid-19,.

We don’t yet know as a collective whether cognitive changes are permanent like they are for neurominorities.

That’s a pretty scary thought for people who are affected.

But by taking positive, proactive steps we can at least buffer our employees from a career derailment at work.