Play: It’s Not Just for Kids
Play is as essential to human life as breathing, sleeping, and eating. When scientists closely scrutinize the why of play, they find a myriad of logical reasons for its purpose. For example, play connects us with others and helps balance emotions. Games like chess foster strategic thinking, athletic games build muscles, endurance, and team spirit, and video games can educate, relieve boredom, and teach specific skills. The possibilities are virtually endless. As adults, we can lose the impulse to play, but it’s worth the effort to welcome it back.
At its core, play is a creative act. Whether you’re a grandparent, have a partner, or are a solo spirit, there are plenty of ways and health benefits to being playful.
“Stress reduction is just one of the many benefits,” says geriatric psychologist Linda Ercoli, PhD, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. “Play also generates internal positivity, helps us laugh, and to just have fun.”
Many Shades of Play
Studies show games can be about much more than winning and losing. They offer an opportunity to bond. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, many people learned the value of online computer games, which can be especially beneficial for older adults, according to many studies (see box page 7).
“Online gaming can connect family members that don’t live nearby, so it’s great for keeping family ties,” she explains. “Younger family members can teach older adults and vice versa because many older adults are actually into online gaming. During the play, young people may ask for advice or talk about school. It’s not a unidimensional experience when you play.”
While play and playfulness have been well studied in children, their structure and consequences are understudied in adults. A recent article published in Social and Personality Psychology Compass examined the importance of playfulness in romantic relationships. The authors noted that playfulness influences how people communicate and interact with each other, for example by helping to deal with stress, and solving interpersonal tension. These can impact relationship satisfaction and trust, ultimately affecting the longevity of relationships. In particular, lead author Kay Brauer, MSc, of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in Germany noted that,“Playful behaviors such as surprising the partner, retelling and reenacting joint experiences with the partner, or jointly forming new experiences often contribute to the happiness and longevity of relationships.”
The Holiday Spirit
The holidays naturally invite a lighthearted playful spirit into such activities as baking cookies, singing carols, and decorating homes. But the holidays can be depressing for some people, especially for those who have lost loved ones. There are, however, ways to honor deceased loved ones in creative, playful ways that bring forth happy memories.
“Maybe you lost someone who had a hobby such as model trains that can be part of the holiday experience,” suggests Ercoli. “Or perhaps you might display a person’s collectables, and talk about them in a positive way or look at family pictures and reminisce about the fun times together. That can produce some sad feelings, but it also can generate feelings of warmth, too.”
Exercising Your Play Muscle
Some people are innately playful, while others may feel awkward or intimiated by trying a new game or dusting off an old one. Pets and children can help. They can be especially good at drawing out a playful spirit—most are ready for just tossing around a ball or playing hide and seek. You can also coax playfulness back into your life with some simple exercises, according to another MLU study. The researchers recruited 533 participants and randomly divided them into experimental and placebo groups. The experimental group completed exercises intended to boost their playfulness. Before going to bed, they reflected on their day and documented how they may have behaved particularly playfully or how they used playfulness in an unfamiliar situation, for example in their professional life.
Researchers assumed that consciously focusing attention on playfulness and using it more often would result in positive emotions. They were right. The tasks did lead to an increase in playfulness as well as a temporary, moderate improvement in the participants’ well-being. Thus, researchers suggest that playfulness can indeed be stimulated and trained, and that it clearly boosts mood and life satisfaction.
Personalities at Play
Playfulness is a personality trait that is expressed in a multitude of ways. “Particularly playful people have a hard time dealing with boredom. They manage to turn almost any everyday situation into an entertaining or personally engaging experience,” explains Professor René Proyer, a psychologist at MLU. “For example, they enjoy word games and mental games, are curious, or just like playing around.” According to Proyer, this does not mean that these people are particularly silly or frivolous. On the contrary, earlier studies from MLU researchers have shown that adults can put this inclination to positive use in many situations: They have an eye for detail, easily adopt new perspectives, and can make a monotonous task interesting for them.
Think about your day and consider infusing it with a sense of play. For example, how can you sneak playfulness into household chores? Can you whistle while you work? Switch to your non-dominant arm when you vacuum? If you could give your younger self advice about play, what would it be and how can you capitalize on that now?
As German philosopher Karl Gross has suggested, we don’t stop playing because we grow old, but rather we grow old because we stop playing. Schedule playtime onto your weekly calendar. Do it in pen, not pencil, and let it run down the page. What are you curious about? What passion would you like to indulge? As the popular saying goes: Whatever you can do or dream, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
What You Can Do
Ask yourself what play means to you. Is it when you feel free from a burden?
When you can be fully absorbed? Does it involve creativity or just cutting loose without an agenda? Play comes in many forms.
- Joke around. Encourage a few friends to learn a few jokes; then get together and share them.
- Go on a playdate. Try indoor skydiving, fly a kite, or take a culinary knife skills class.
- Make art. Create a collage with family photos, take a pottery class, or try glass blowing.
- Let music move you. Try to a play simple instrument, like a ukulele, sing a favorite song out loud, dance in your living room.
- Play like a kid. Whether you have kids to play with or not, grab someone and play hide and seek, pin the tail on the donkey, or bust up a pinata.
- Game night. Invite people over for a game of Monopoly, poker, or dodgeball.
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