The Many Faces of Procrastination and Health Behaviors
Procrastination is not the whole story when someone puts off taking care of their health.
Posted April 21, 2026 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk
Procrastination abounds. If you ask anyone, they will probably say that they procrastinate from time to time. Sometimes it is a mild tendency that is fairly harmless, perhaps causing some guilt or annoyance. But, sometimes, procrastination is a constant, causing stress , anxiety , and possibly having adverse life consequences.
The debilitating kinds of procrastination have been described simply as having a single cause: dysfunctional delay. Others go deeper and suggest that it is driven by emotions—specifically, anxiety, fear , shame , guilt, regret, boredom , frustration, anger , and revenge . Based on these causes, some research suggests mood repair and emotional regulation as potential cures. Others have suggested learning time management skills. Still others refer to research indicating that procrastination is 46 percent genetic.
Some do not bother with deeper causes and simply call it an inefficient coping mechanism. In many cases, procrastination is linked to low self-esteem and feelings of failure. Indeed, many procrastinators are discouraged by it, which can lead to further dips in self-esteem.
However, some ways of coping and getting relief have been identified. It’s been found that interventions such as time management or structured goal setting have had limited success. What has worked is emotion -focused strategies, including mindfulness practices, self-compassion training, and cognitive behavioral therapy .
Procrastination and Health
There is a type of procrastination that may not be addressed completely by those descriptions or interventions.
Procrastination can have negative impacts on health and well-being. Individuals can delay or ignore taking care of their health, whether it be visits to the doctor or engaging in exercise and healthy eating.
There is some overlap with health behavior procrastination and procrastination in other areas of our lives, like academic performance or completing job-related tasks. With health behavior, as with many other behaviors, there may be an intention to do something, but there is a lack of follow-through. However, health behaviors are different in a few key ways.
First, not following through may not have immediate consequences. Health behaviors usually don’t have time constraints the way completing an academic assignment or a task on the job does. Those behaviors are regulated by external demands. Health behaviors are mostly driven by an internal decision process. Second, deciding to do things for your health requires a future-oriented view. Taking care of your health requires belief that the behavior will reap benefits for the future self.
There is something else going on that needs to be taken into consideration when health behaviors are lacking.
Fascinating recent research (2024) devised and tested what they call the Illusory Health Beliefs Scale (IHBS) for use in detecting false or negative health beliefs that would cause individuals to avoid medical treatment or engage in regular health behaviors. Interestingly, it was based on another instrument, the Paranormal Health Beliefs Scale. The Paranormal Health Beliefs Scale had been validated previously for detecting illusory health beliefs based on such constructs as religious/ spiritual beliefs, superstitions, myths, or pseudoscience.
The IHBS was found to be a reliable way to detect unsubstantiated health beliefs.
Since then (2025), other research has done a dive into specific health beliefs that are illusory—things like relying on horoscopes to guide health decisions, eating an apple a day to ward off disease, or not going to the doctor on Friday the 13th.
Taken as a whole, illusory health beliefs point to a problem with locus of control . These beliefs describe forces outside of our control. Following on from that, an individual may or may not feel they are capable of taking charge of the circumstances. Events can be chalked up to how the stars are aligned or God’s will. False beliefs can also cause a person to take actions that are falsely linked to a health outcome in their mind.
Procrastination has been defined as “to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay.” Does this definition cover what is happening when procrastination affects health in negative ways?
There is no doubt that not taking proven actions to maintain health can be hazardous. However, is this a voluntary decision? Is there awareness of potential negative consequences?
Not always. There is another ubiquitous problem. That of health literacy. Recent statistics tell us that more than 30 percent of Americans are illiterate when it comes to health. How does that play out? People will not or cannot take advantage of health services; comprehend health-related materials, recommendations, or instructions; and may not have basic literacy or numeracy skills.
In today’s world, you could argue that misinformation, disinformation, and fallacies are everywhere. An interesting finding, however, is that low health literacy has more of an impact than the abundance of low-quality information. In other words, lack of understanding is a bigger issue.
Research (2011, 2026) has provided some strategies to address health literacy that may pertain to health belief systems and procrastination as well.
There are cases where individuals know the value of certain health behaviors like regular check-ups, exercise, healthy eating, and good sleep. Those folks may know the value, but for myriad reasons, do not manage to do them.
But that is not the whole story. Many in this country are still unaware of what basic health behaviors are and why they are important. This lack of knowledge can lead to a specific kind of procrastination that affects both individual and public health.
Rozental, A., et al. (2018). Targeting Procrastination Using Psychological Treatments: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology. 9:1588.
Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K.G., Escola-Gascon, A. (2024). The Illusory Health Beliefs Scale: preliminary validation using exploratory factor and Rasch analysis. Frontiers in Psychology. 15:1408734.
Denovan, A., Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K.G. (2025). The Illusory Health Beliefs Scale: validation using exploratory structural equation modeling and multidimensional Rasch analysis. Frontiers in Psychology. 16:1491759
Sheridan, S.L., et al. (2011). Interventions for Individuals with Low Health Literacy: A Systematic Review. Journal of Health Communication. 16:sup3, 30–54.
Ogbadu-Oladapo, L., Bissadu, K., Kim, H., Smith, D.L. (2026). Information and health literacy: could there be any impact on health decision-making among adults? – evidence from North America. Journal of Public Health. 34:151–181.
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Kristen Carter, M.S., is an exercise physiologist and the author of The End of Try Try Again: Overcome Your Weight Loss and Exercise Struggles for Good.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.