Leisure

I have been so excited to write about this topic ever since it made it on my list: LEISURE. It seems like the older we get, leisure is prioritized less and less. And it also feels confusing because what is leisurely to one person may be your own personal hell. So, how can we all incorporate more leisure into our lives and why is it imperative to do so?

The science is simple, clear, and conclusive: leisure activities improve mental health. There’s a direct link between lack of leisure activities and mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and stress. So, if we want to feel better, incorporating more leisure is a good first step. 

Part of the reason these activities make us feel better is that leisure = freedom. And yes, those studies also show that wealthier people or business owners tend to have more leisure time because they make their own schedules. While we may not all live that life, we can incorporate that lesson into our lives. If ownership of your schedule offers more freedom, look for ways to take back control of your schedule.

Once you’ve carved out the time for leisure, if you’re like me, the next question is, “What do I do now?” 

It turns out there are specific types of leisure. Generally, there are two main buckets: active and passive leisure, which are pretty self-explanatory. One involves doing something (like a hobby or playing a sport) the other is chilling (like watching a movie or listening to an audiobook in the hot tub). Those buckets are broken up further into social leisure, cognitive leisure, and physical leisure. 

Social leisure is — you guessed it! — being social, doing activities with other people, going to concerts, traveling, etc.

Cognitive leisure is an activity that engages your brain, like learning a new language, reading a book, developing a new skill. This is a very nerdy confession, but one of my favorite cognitive leisure activities is to think of an obscure sports hypothesis and then spend an hour or two diving into the data to find a solution. To each their own! 

Physical leisure is about getting your body moving, playing sports, etc. While running may be torture to some people, it’s relaxing and leisurely to others. 

This is where hobbies come into play. They can fit into any of these buckets because they can involve as much or as little of these activities as you want. Hobbies can be anything from volunteering to photography to writing fan fiction. Which leads me to the fact I found most interesting…

Simply being a fan is a leisure activity! The act of fandom is an opportunity to engage in leisure. According to Psychology Today:

Fans who participate in creating fan fiction or fan art, or who travel to fan conventions or concerts or football games, are engaging in what is known as serious leisure. This concept is based on the idea of involvement, a psychological trait defined as a state of motivation, arousal, or interest toward a recreational activity or associated product—anything from a television show to an actor to a basketball team.  

If you’re anything like me, you may be thinking, “Natalie, these are all things that take effort for me to do. How can that possibly help me de-stress?” Well, it turns out we may not know our brains as well as we think we do. 

In the book "Stillness is the Key," author Ryan Holiday explains that leisure is one thing you can't do for anyone else; you have to do it for yourself. It "simultaneously relaxes and challenges us."

On the Huberman Lab Podcast, Dr. Andrew Huberman explains that a challenge, like a new pose in yoga, actually gives us a hit of dopamine because if we're off balance, we're learning something new in order to get back in balance.

So, yes, you’re right that all of these activities require a degree of effort, even if it’s just mentally engaging with what you’re watching on your screen. But that effort is exactly what causes your brain to release dopamine — aka a “feel good hormone.” Learning something new, trying to beat a video game, finishing a good book, they’re all new experiences for your brain, and when your brain encounters that challenge and/or newness it feels good. 

I’ve been playing with this concept a lot because I enjoy passive leisure activities. One of my all time favorite things is to sit down on Sundays and watch seven hours of commercial-free football on NFL Redzone. I work all week toward getting everything on my “to do list” done so I can sit undistracted and watch football. But that never rang true as “leisurely” to me until I started this research. Instead, I’d just feel guilty for being so “lazy.” Now I understand that this passive cognitive leisure activity actually was as good for my brain as it felt. 

This week, how can you make room for 1% more leisure in your life? How can you take control of your schedule 1% more in order to give your brain the break it needs and craves? And if you’re not sure what you like to do for leisure, can you try one new activity in each of the social, cognitive, and physical leisure buckets? Explore what it is that lights up your brain while also making you feel good. 

With gratitude, 

Natalie