Could Wasting Time Be Good For Your Health?
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It might sound counterintuitive, but spending time doing things that don't have an obviously productive purpose—like watching TV, browsing the internet, or just daydreaming—may be good for your mental health.
A growing body of research suggests that "wasting time" can offer a sense of relief from stress and anxiety, promote creativity, and even help boost our physical health. In a world where “hustle culture” is rewarded, defy the status quo by taking a break. You might find more benefits than you’d expect!
How Is Wasting Time Beneficial?
Productivity and “doing more” are revered in the world. However, no one can continue to lead this productive life without ever stopping to recharge their batteries. Running on productivity alone can kill your motivation and creativity, but wasting time can help you rebuild that energy. We make sure our phones don’t dip below 10% when we need them, so why don’t we do the same for our body and mental health?
““We make sure our phones don’t dip below 10% when we need them, so why don’t we do the same for our body and mental health?””
Wasting time can boost your creativity, help you recharge, and give you a newfound sense of motivation to put more into your work with less effort. Wasting time can both help you do better at your job and in your creative endeavors, but it can also be good in general for your overall well-being.
Getting used to taking time off and relaxing with time-wasting activities each day can take some getting used to, so here are a few tips to help you sink into your role of a “couch potato” after work, without any regrets regarding productivity.
How to Start Wasting Time
You may have heard online or through various current trends that the only way to recharge, connect with yourself, and build your battery back up is through meditation, exercise, and other activities that may seem like a lot of work and—let’s face it—sometimes not very fun. While these activities are great to incorporate into your life, they aren’t ideal time-wasting activities.
Time-wasting activities are those joy-giving experiences that take little effort and that you may crave throughout your day. This may include watching TV or a movie, reading a book, playing video games, or sitting around and doing nothing. The choice is yours, but the goal shouldn’t be to get something productive done by the end of this activity.
You also don’t have to stick to only one activity. Change up the activity to match what will fuel you that day. Some days a walk around the block is what we need to re-charge, while other days we might need to binge watch an entire series. This time is yours to waste, however you please.
Wasting Time Can Be Good for You
According to research from the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, people who viewed leisure time as wasteful spent less time performing these activities, which in turn led to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and stress among the participants. Overall, those that performed fewer time-wasting activities ultimately had lower happiness levels.
What can we learn from this? For one, these leisure activities can have a significant benefit on your mental well being and overall wellness. Happiness can come from these simple activities that seem so counterproductive to what we think we’re supposed to be spending our time doing.
This study also showcases how important framing is in our mind. If you frame an activity as wasteful and a burden, it will become that. However, if you frame activities that are meant for leisure as worthy of your time, they can have immediate positive effects on your mental health.
““This study also showcases how important framing is in our mind...if you frame activities that are meant for leisure as worthy of your time, they can have immediate positive effects on your mental health. ””
In our world, work, productivity, and production is rewarded. This can leave us feeling as though relaxation time is unnecessary and can only produce negative effects.
Instead, we need to start viewing leisure activities as a positive force in their own way. After all, the happier and healthier version of you can do more work and more productive activities in the long-run. When you aren’t burnt out from constantly working without breaks, you can do a better job.
How to Use This Time Wisely
How can you get the most out of your wasted time? The goal for time-wasting activities is for you to emerge with more energy, creativity, and drive. To have this happen, you have to start using this time wisely and allow it to motivate you rather than make you feel guilty. Follow these steps to get the most out of your relaxing, wasted time.
Do One Thing at a Time
We often waste time by “pseudo-working,” as we unconsciously scroll through social media, chat with friends and co-workers, and engage in small time-wasting activities throughout what should otherwise be our normal, productive working hours. This increases the time we need to spend working on required tasks, all because we weren’t using our time wisely.
By focusing your attention on one thing at a time, you can stay productive when it counts most and accomplish more in less time, all while giving yourself a wider chunk of the day to dedicate to relaxing and truly time-wasting activities that can help you recharge. We can do more in less time when we stay focused.
Get Into a Flow State
Similar to the last tip, get into a flow state when you’re taking your time-wasting breaks. A flow state involves dedicating your attention to a single task and melting into that moment. Have you ever started watching a TV show and before you know it, you’re almost done with the entire season? Or have you gotten so immersed in a book that you couldn’t help turning another page? You were probably in a state of flow.
These flow states can be great for our mental health; they are almost like meditation. Your mind can’t think about your anxieties, to-do lists, and other pressing productivity thoughts.
When in a state of flow, you’re confined to that moment. You can reach a flow state by dedicating a large chunk of time for one activity. Rather than playing on your phone and watching TV for 20 minutes, try only watching TV for an hour. Before you know it, you’ll slip into that meditative state of flow without even trying.
Don’t Think About Work
It can be difficult to switch your brain off and purely relax during these time-wasting activities, but doing so is essential to get the most out of your time. Limit your thoughts and worries about work when you take time off. This can be accomplished easier if you stay focused throughout your working hours.
Each time you find yourself thinking about work during your off-time, remind yourself of what you accomplished and tell yourself that you deserve this time off. Thinking about projects and deadlines defeats the purpose of your time away from work and productivity. Don’t let work thoughts pull you away from relaxation.
Remove Guilt from the Activity
Time-wasting activities lose their ability to recharge your mind and body when you start to think of them through a guilty lens. Rather than reprimand yourself for these activities, consider them as a reward you earned. Don’t call yourself lazy for taking an hour or two a day to watch your favorite show.
Instead, remind yourself that you deserve this relaxation time and that it will have positive effects on your mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
Keep Everything in Moderation
With everything in life, moderation is key. When we overindulge too often, we may be left feeling guilty and unfulfilled. Conversely, if we deprive ourselves of something too much, we can feel burnt-out and wanting. This want can lead us to overindulge in the activity we were depriving ourselves of, and so the cycle continues. Stop this cycle of negative emotions by performing your time-wasting activities at a moderate pace.
Spend time daily—whatever you feel is right for your needs—doing activities that help shut your brain off and fuel you with revitalized energy. Don’t deprive or overindulge; do just the right amount to keep you satisfied.
You Deserve a Break
At the end of a long, productive day, you deserve a break. You’ve put in the hours to lead a productive life that gets you to the places you want to go, but without a break this progress you’ve made will quickly fall apart. Next time you sit down to read, watch TV, or engage in another time-wasting activity, remind yourself that this is a reward and that you’ve earned it. Recharging your batteries is essential to not burning out.