When someone regularly wakes at the same time, the body's circadian system can begin preparing for awakening before the alarm sounds. Hormonal and physiological changes associated with waking can start beforehand. This may help explain why people...
Continuous feeds remove many of the natural stopping cues found in other activities. A book has chapters, a television episode ends, and a newspaper has a final page—but an infinite feed can continue indefinitely. Without a clear stopping point...
Having more options sounds better, but an enormous selection can make comparisons mentally exhausting. Research on choice overload suggests that under some circumstances, people become less satisfied or less likely to choose when faced with too...
Mental fatigue isn't caused only by difficult work. Long periods of boredom and under-stimulation can also leave people feeling tired and unmotivated. Research on boredom suggests that maintaining attention when nothing feels engaging can itself...
Unfinished goals and unresolved information can remain mentally active. An unread or unanswered message can therefore repeatedly return to awareness, particularly when the conversation feels important. This is related to research on prospective...