Stress & Cognitive Impact

Practices

• Predictable flows; avoid surprise context switches.
• Save state; allow pauses; extend timeouts when possible.
• Clear language and recovery paths.

What stress does

• Narrows attention; reduces working-memory capacity; increases tunnel vision.
• Increases reliance on habitual actions and heuristics.

Design responses

• Cut non-essential choices; provide sane defaults and clear next steps.
• Offer low-stress modes: offline, drafts, schedule send, reminders.
• Slow escalation: gentle warnings → confirmations → hard stops.

References

• Sandi, C. (2013) — Stress and cognition. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3432
• NN/g — Designing for Stress and Anxiety: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/stress-anxiety-ux/