In a rush? Learn to ease 'hurry sickness'

Career counselor and work-life balance consulant Debra Krumholz shares a laugh with student Eloise Green of Brooklyn, NY while viewing the alumni network at her office at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass. (Globe Photo / Stephen Rose )

Call it the hurry syndrome. We are a nation in a rush. But are we gaining on life by perpetually racing the clock or perhaps losing something by turning our days into an unending sprint?

The lunch "hour" has shrunk to a mere half hour, down from 36 minutes a decade ago. We get the least vacation in the developed world, yet one-third of Americans use up less than half of their time off. And we can't bear to monotask, even while driving a car. Nearly 70 percent of Americans eat while driving, and 37 percent of those ages 19 to 27 text message while behind the wheel.

"Everybody I talk to expresses this feeling of being in a race with themselves, and feeling like they're always losing, that they can never keep up," says Debra Krumholz, a work-life consultant and career counselor at Amherst College who finds that even college students nowadays rarely slow down. "We get caught up in a certain pace and find it hard to downshift."

Noel Schroeder, a Boston elementary school teacher turned yoga instructor, sees the culture of rush in her classes. Students show up literally breathless. "It's the first time all day they've taken a deep breath," says Schroeder. "There's this sudden awareness of how they've been racing all day."

And when she tells newcomers that they may have to hold a yoga position - a "pose" - for five minutes, they gape at Schroeder "bug-eyed," unable to imagine sitting still that long, she says. In particular, type-A people "get overwhelmed" at the idea, says Schroeder, who teaches at The Sports Club/LA and Exhale Spa.

Tucked into a long line of literature on cardiac health is an intriguing concept: "time urgency/impatience" syndrome. You suffer from "TUI" if you get upset while waiting, tend to eat fast, and generally feel time pressured, especially at the end of the workday.

Researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., tracked young adults ages 18 to 30 for 15 years and found that those with high TUI had nearly double the risk of developing high blood pressure than those with the lowest levels of impatience.

Rushing, of course, isn't guaranteed to give you a heart attack. (Anger seems to be worse for your heart, studies show.) But the 60 - make that 80 - miles-per-hour life is costly over time. Eating in a hurry is linked to indigestion and overeating. Sleep deprivation hurts cognition and performance. Driver inattention may cause up to 80 percent of accidents. Try dating or parenting without patience. It's hard.

"It's that hurrying thing," says Susan Hancox, a former hospital executive. "It's getting in line at the grocery store and realizing that the person in front of you is going to have three things checked for price, and oh, you're dying. And it's only going to cost you a minute!"

A year ago at age 57, Hancox left a high-powered position in human resources and operations, turned away job offers and carved out a new career. Now she works as a consultant matching entrepreneurs with franchises, volunteers more in her hometown of Groveland, feels better rested and enjoys slow moments in life alongside the inevitable hurrying.

"I realize the quality of my work is better," says Hancox. My clients "get much fresher ideas because I don't have 50 things competing for that part of my brain."

How can we hit the pause button? Here are a few starting points from those who treat "hurry sickness."

Small doses - Inserting just a bit of "pause" into your day can help. For instance, share a one-minute "pleasure point" - a funny e-mail, a bit of dancing - with your partner as a way of carving out mutual relaxation time, suggests Peter Fraenkel, a New York psychologist who studies people's use of time. "It doesn't take a lot of time to feel connected again," says Fraenkel.

Remind yourself - It may sound silly, but in a world of engrained hurrying, we often need to remind ourselves to slow down. If we stop, we can both assess our inner speedometer and dial down briefly. "Simple things, a note on a mirror remind you of what's most important, or of your intention to slow down," says Krumholz. While these prompts might seem to just extend an expanding to-do list, they actually may help you gain needed perspective on what is important - or not.

No-tech zone - To take a real minibreak, it's often essential to disconnect temporarily. Participants in conferences and retreats at the Rhinebeck, N.Y.-based Omega Institute, at first feverishly roam the rural wellness center's campus, searching for phone and Internet reception.

"People get very anxious that they are not going to be in touch," says spokeswoman Carla Goldstein. "One can almost see the technology withdrawal." But as they depart, many are grateful that they've had the chance to disconnect, sit down for a meal, and "stop and slow down," she says.

Susan Hancox loved her high-powered life, yet she has a twinge of regret that she didn't learn to slow down earlier - and that it took such a radical change in careers to inspire balance.

In 2000, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and for a time cut back to a 40-hour week, but postrecovery, she quickly caught the "hurry syndrome."

"It took hours to slide back into the old routine," she says. "I've learned an important lesson."

Maggie Jackson, author of What's Happening to Home: Balancing Work, Life and Refuge in the Information Age, can be reached at maggie.jackson@att.net.