Did you say play is childish and just for kids?!
Believe me, playing is for everyone … playing is nature’s teacher, medicine and age-arrestor!
YES! PLAY … Teaches: grows us up; Heals: keeps us well; Regenerates: keeps us young.
To quote George Bernard Shaw: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”. The Australian Ageing Agenda has a wonderful blog titled “Play your way to good health”. While the focus on this blog is ‘play’ for the ‘aging’, I want to remind us that play is critical for psychological and physiological wellbeing across all ages. Recorded as early as 1659, you may have heard the old proverb “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Wikipedia suggests that it means “that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring” - perhaps the old proverb was more correct than they could have realised …. It was certainly on the right track!
This blog is primarily looking to introduce you to research which confirms the importance of play for us as adults and our wellbeing and to send you off to enjoy some other great blogs, video insights and adult playfulness inspirations.
Defining play is not so simple. However, a comprehensive study of play has suggested the following definitions across the life span:
Children’s playfulness: “pleasure, spontaneity, imagination, curiosity, and a sense of humour”
Adolescents’ playfulness: “physically animated, socially engaged, mentally spontaneous, emotionally fluid, and humorous”
Young-adults’ playfulness: “physical activity, social engagement, spontaneity, and humour”
Adults’ playfulness: “creativity, curiosity, pleasure, and a sense of humour”
Older adults’ playfulness: “happy, optimistic, cheerful, amusing, positive, enthusiastic, and relaxed … tend towards mischief, naughtiness, clowning, joking, and teasing; embody fun and humour in ways that translate into laughter and amusement in others ... impish and circumspect about their behaviour in ways that teenagers have not yet mastered. … they continue to approach the world with a measure of creativity and whimsy.”
I really liked one blogger who suggests we never stop being playful noting that adults do play when they “doodle, daydream, joke around, go for walks, hum, whistle, sing (in the shower), listen to music, dance, watch movies, play games on our devices, chat, message, massage, dress up, dress down, go for rides, go on vacations” … After reading this list I realised how true it is. It seems we are drilled by a certain age to no longer indulge in play … and we have to keep resisting the ‘confession’ of ‘us playing’.
Research on older adults find that “playfulness in later life improves cognitive, emotional, social, and psychological functioning and healthy ageing overall.” Another study has found positive correlations for adult playfulness with life satisfaction, physical exercise and fitness.
There was a very large online self-ratings survey undertaken looking at “Playfulness over the Life-Course and its Relation to Happiness”. The online survey did not support the idea that elderly people are not interested in being playful or are less playful than younger people. Instead, it showed that playfulness was a contributor to the wellbeing of adults and elderly adults in particular. This study found playfulness is relevant across all age groups and displays robust relations with different indicators of well-being. The study reinforces previous research finding happiness, as well as orientations to happiness interplay positively with playfulness and quality of life in the elderly.
Play is also known to relieve stress; improve brain function; stimulate the mind and boost creativity; improve relationships and your connection to others; keep you feeling young and energetic. Research on the polyvagal theory informs us of the interplay of physiology and psychology and as such provides further insights into the benefits of play as we feel safe and can engage the social nervous system (SNS) to utilise the built-up energy in the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) for play (for example). Activation frees the body and mind from stress, depression and other mental and physical health issues through focused attention on breathing to regulate the nervous system.
What does all this mean you ask? Simple! We physically and psychologically cannot afford not to play – our health and wellbeing depend on it!
So firstly, here is a link to a serious number of ideas on introducing play into your adult life and adults in your life – younger and older.
Now I want to share with you a fail-proof (research evidenced) way to enhance your wellbeing and introduce playfulness into your everyday life with this priceless and free activity: Three Funniest Things (TFT 😊).
You may have heard about recording ‘Three Good Things’ each day. Well, this time we are going to record the three funniest things we experienced each day… AND we will include an explanation of why those things happened … We are going to record this for a week – that’s right – 7 days! So find a nice little notebook (or big if you wish) and start writing.
Believe me, the science assures us that this “Three Funniest Things” activity is potent! You will be at high risk of enhancing your happiness … and it will cause an antidepressant effect.
If you enjoyed this and really want to explore more … here’s something you can do with a friend or group of friends. The Gratitude Fun Game requires you all to take in turn, back and forth, listing one thing that you are grateful for. The ‘winner’ is the person who lists the most things that he/she is grateful for in the designated time. You’ll need to set a time you will each respond inside of or form the longest list inside a set time.
While my focus here is on adult play I will note the equally important role of play for children’s development, health and wellbeing. Increasingly, my conclusion is “what’s good for the kids is good for the old crocks too” 😊. Let’s look at that soon.