Study Finds Deadlines Have No Impact on Stress Levels

A study by researchers from the University of Houston, Texas A&M, and the Polytechnic of Milano found that deadlines may not be as stressful as previously believed. The study discovered that high sympathetic activation, which indicates how much people are “on the tips of their toes” and leads to stress, remains about the same with or without deadlines. The only factors found to exacerbate sympathetic activation were extensive smartphone use and prolific reading/writing. Researchers appear to auto-regulate increases in their sympathetic activation by instinctively adjusting the frequency of physical breaks.