There are always so many things demanding time and attention that deliberately setting out to have a little recreation is often a difficult discipline. If you have this problem, you may benefit from the advice of a psychologist who knows why play has a great payoff. Here’s the list of reasons to escape to the beach or engage in your favorite recreation:
- It restores optimism.
- It relieves stress.
- It refreshes and recharges.
- It changes your perspective for the better.
- It stimulates creativity.
- It renews your ability to accomplish necessary work.
- It allows your brain to renew the neural connections thatembody your human potential.
- It helps you adapt to any possible set of environmentalconditions.
- It takes tension out of your body.
- It is an indicator of youthfulness.
- It lengthens life. Adults who play live longer than those whodon’t according to a study conducted by Stanford University.
- It permits emotional discharge in a way that carries little risk.
- It provides an opportunity to experiment with feelings and to be completely in charge of them.
- It develops your memory.
- It makes you a happier person.
- The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.
- It is an exercise in self-definition–it reveals what we choose todo, not what we have to do.
- It’s fun.
So now you know why to work at playing.