Settle down — multitasking can shrink your brain

WASHINGTON — People have spent years learning how to multitask, especially when it comes to media devices — listening to the radio while sending texts, or tweeting while watching TV, all sorts of combinations to keep moving at peak efficiency.

Well, a new study says all that multitasking makes your brain smaller.

A University of Sussex study published in The Daily Mail has found that people who use cellphones, laptops and other devices all at once can change the structure of your brain — and not for the better.

People who use several kinds of technology at once ended up with less grey matter in an important part of the brain — the part involved in processing emotion.

Other studies have shown that multitasking can result in anxiety, depression and low grades.

One of the study’s authors told the Daily Mail that it’s also possible that people with less grey matter in that part of the brain (the anterior cingulate cortex) are simply more drawn to multitasking, so more research is needed to figure out which causes which.

If you’re looking to build up your grey matter, the Daily Mail says other studies have established that training — learning something new — can help.

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