How feeling too busy can harm your mental health, 3 simple ways to help

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I dread having a busy schedule. Often, it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day to fulfill my work obligations, spend time with loved ones, have a hobby and dedicate enough time to self-care without crashing.

As a result, dinners with friends I haven’t seen since college get pushed back, appointments get rescheduled, and there’s no time for the dance, pottery and piano classes I used to take.

Lori Santos, a Yale University psychology professor, called this a “time famine” at SXSW in early March. It can lead to poor work performance and burnout and even harm your mental health, Santos added.

The good news: You can up your feeling of “time affluence,” as Santos called it, and end up happier.

Here are three ways to do it:

1. Stop crowding your calendar. While it might look impressive, it can make you feel like there’s no time to eat lunch or chat with colleagues. Save the larger, more pressing tasks for your calendar and the smaller ones for your to-do list, Santos recommends.

2. Celebrate unexpected breaks. When a meeting ends early or you finish a task a little quicker than you thought you would, use those short, leftover minutes to do things that make you happy, such as meditating or taking a quick walk.

3. Spend money to get time back. Some of the best ways to rest, recover and reward yourself do cost money, Santos noted. If you have to work late one day, don’t feel guilty eating leftovers or ordering takeout that night, she said.

I’ve already started implementing the first tip, and I have stopped scheduling short chats and lunch breaks on my calendar, which made it more daunting to look at.

The next time I have to work late, I might pick up a quick dinner to save myself the time spent standing over the stove, and hit the gym instead.

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