The 30 Days to Pain-Free Challenge:

Day 6 – Unplug and Engage in Leisurely Play Often

Are you like most people and wonder where all the time went?  Do you feel like time is racing by, compared to when you were younger?

In today’s dizzying pace of life, it is a common perception.  One thing that I’m sure is at the root of this phenomenon is the pervasiveness of mobile electronic devices.  They are everywhere, crossing all socioeconomic classes, and have become a standard part of one’s essential belongings; right up there with a wallet, purse or pair of shoes.  Most people see smart phones as indispensable and keep one close to their body throughout the entire day, from the time they are awake to the time they go to bed.

And the smart phone’s partner in crime is social media: news, email, texting, IMing, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.  Some people spend more than ten hours of their day on their smart phones, living their lives digitally/ remotely via interaction with others far away.  More worrisome, children and youth tend to be the biggest users although full grown adults do it as well.  The physical world is giving way to the digital/virtual world, inch by inch.  This can’t be good.

From the perspective of a healthcare professional, these are some of ways excessive mobile device use harms your physical and mental health:

It can give people, especially young people a false sense of reality. They see videos of “beautiful” people and people showing off their wealth/ fun lives and compare it to theirs. This can cause feelings of insecurity and depression. And it doesn’t end there.  This psychological conditioning (yes, that’s what social media use basically boils down to) shapes their mindset, attitude and behavior and how they treat and view other people—family, neighbors, co-workers, strangers.  If you’re carrying around a negative view of your life, you can only spread negativity to those around you, and then it spreads to others, geometrically like a virus.  Can the internet be a factor in all the terrible things we see on the news each week?  The terrible things people are doing to one another?  I think so.

The internet is a virtual doorway to every corner of the world. It gives people access to a lot of good things like beautiful, exotic places and education on just about any topic one’s interested in. But, it is also a doorway to the dark places of the world—pornography, hate groups, gambling, websites on the grotesque and deviant, and so on.  Imagine an unsupervised six or ten year old child being exposed to these things—he will be mentally scarred and it will shape his life’s trajectory in a bad way.

Excessive mobile device consumes way too much valuable time that could be better spent. Time that could be spent producing something, fixing or improving something, caring for/ raising someone like an aging parent or child; preparing healthy meals in your kitchen, learning something new, and exercising to improve your physical and mental health. This are the positive activities of life.  It’s time well-spent.

There is a finite number of hours in a day and for a lot of people, it seems there aren’t enough.  One reason is because they are spending too much time on the internet; the other is that they aren’t organized.

Here’s what I propose:  unplug and re-engage/ reconnect with the physical world more often.  Limit your mobile phone use to 30 minutes to an hour per day.   Use the huge amount of time you save doing the things mentioned above, and include leisure, unstructured play time, regularly.  This can help break attachment (addiction, actually) to excessive mobile smart phone usage.

Leisurely, Unstructured Play Time Improves Health

Mark Sisson, considered the godfather of the primal movement, insists that leisure time involving unstructured play is essential to individual health and a healthy society.  He says that “for tens of thousands of years, play was a vital component of communal living and social cohesion among our hunter-gatherer ancestors.  It formed bonds, strong social ties that strengthened the collective power and safety of the tribe.”

Compare that to today, where most people have never been in the homes of their next door neighbors; let alone know their names and the names of their children.  For a lot of folks (especially in the U.S.) it’s out to work at 8 am, back home at 6 pm and straight to the TV or internet, and the cycle repeats daily.

A 2009 study published in the medical journal Psychosomatic Medicine examined the association between leisure activities and psychological and physiological health and found that

subjects who regularly engaged in leisurely activities had lower blood pressure, lower total cortisol (the stress hormone), waist circumference, and body mass index, and perceptions of better physical function compared to those who did not.

Demographic factors were taken into account, and the results were the same.   It’s apparent that the more you reduce stress, the more easily everything else in life falls into place: no more stress eating, natural fat loss, better focus at work, nothing weighing on your mind before bed, and less arguments with the spouse and kids.

Isn’t it worth your time to unplug from the structured and mentally-draining activities of work, and engage in leisurely, unstructured play like our early human ancestors did?  I say that not only is it worth your time, it is essential (mandatory) to health.  That’s why I name it as one of my Seven Pillars of Health.  Don’t think of leisure play as a “reward” or something you can do only if you have time.  Make time for it.  Make it a priority.

Leisurely, unstructured play looks different to everyone.  Naturally, you would choose doing something you enjoy.  The key is that it has to be unstructured, and mostly unplanned.  Just go out there and start having fun.  You can do it alone or with other people; there are benefits to both.  Try both.  It’s even better if it’s spontaneous.   Release any mental attachments and let things flow.  There should be no worries; your mind should be totally into what you’re doing.  Endorphins, the “feel good” hormone secreted by your brain’s pituitary gland are released, which promotes all kinds of health benefits, especially the feeling of stress melting away.

Just a few ideas:

• Take a walk in nature; near the ocean, if you can, and be in the present (don’t think of work, home).
• Sunbathe in the park or beach.
• Play an outdoor game like pickup basketball or football; badminton, frisbee or make one up.
• Sit in a mom and pop outdoor café and read a book, or just observe life around you.
• Watch an uplifting movie at the theater in the middle of a work day.
• Browse artifacts in a local museum and imagine the scenes they were exposed to during their time.
• Swim/ skinny dip in a lake (be careful not to drown!)
• Play with nieces and nephews; take them out for treats.
• Go urban hiking (good for those living in the suburbs, close to a metropolitan area). You’ll discover all those nice little shops, cafes and other interesting places that are missed when driving in a car.

Remember, the key is unstructured, worry-free, present-time living, just for that moment.  Do this and you’ll reap the same health benefits of those test subjects in that 2009 study.

Action Step:  Write in your journal a list of leisure activities you think you would enjoy, and try them out either alone or with others.  Make leisurely play a recurring activity in your life to counteract life’s stressors; it’s better than medicine.

You Can Do It,