Have you ever noticed how medical doctors, psychologists, and other wellness experts uniformly agree that exercise can improve our mood and overall health? It’s almost as if they’re saying it's the golden ticket to good health. If this is true (and we have lots of evidence to support it) why do we have so much resistance to their advice?
Could it be because exercise feels more like work, than play? What if the real golden ticket to good health is playing?
A growing number of studies suggest it is: that's why "consciousness hack" #2 is play.
Why is play so important? Let’s deconstruct it for a moment. To start with, it’s associated with childhood, laughter, fun, and freedom. For many of us, childhood was a time in our lives when we effortlessly ran, rode bikes, jumped on trampolines, and slid into homebase. (As you can see, we got a ton of exercise—without making any effort to exercise.)
If you find it hard to take play seriously, consider this: renown American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, included play among fourteen being-values we need to fulfill our ultimate potential. Maslow defined play with these words: fun; joy; amusement; gaiety; humor; exuberance; and effortlessness.
You may have noticed that the word play doesn't necessarily involve moving our physical bodies. We can play a card game or video game; we can play by telling jokes, going to the movies, yes, even by coloring in a coloring book. To use play as a “consciousness hack" however, I’m strongly suggesting you find two ways to play—one that’s mental and one that’s physical—dancing, yoga, swimming, tennis, hula-hooping—you name it. By letting your inner child take a seat at the grown-up table, you'll not only have more fun, studies show that it reduces stress. Researchers have even found that play is a "powerful deterrent, even an antidote to prevent violence."1
By making time to play, you'll find the golden ticket in your very own hand. In my next post, we’ll be looking at play’s close relative: liveliness. Until then, go by a trampoline—or something!
To learn more about the science of play check out the Encyclopedia of Play Science.
This post was republished from www.psychologytoday.com
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