Play the play, then play the plan, you can do it, everyone can…What are we gonna play today?

—The Muppets of Sesame Street

By Alona Pulde, MD, and Matthew Lederman, MD

What did you love to do as a child that excited you? Was it simply clowning around and joking with friends? Throwing a frisbee? Jumping on a trampoline? Listening to music and playing air guitar? Being fearlessly creative? Dive bombing into a lake? Sword fighting with sticks? Dancing, playing charades, and riding bikes with friends? When did you stop playing, and why?

“We are a nation of exhausted, overstressed adults,” notes author, speaker, and psychologist Brene Brown in her book, The Gifts of Imperfection. “Exhaustion and productivity become badges of honor.” In that sense, play is as essential a need as food, water, sleep, and sex. It’s a biological drive that plays a crucial role in our well-being. 

As children play, they learn how to relate to other children in social situations. They consciously and subconsciously read a variety of social cues from other kids, perfecting their ability to discern safety from danger. 

In other words, play with others is essential for teaching our nervous system how to regulate and switch from survival mode to safety/pro-social mode. Without “practicing” play, we can easily perceive safe situations as dangerous, leading to the stimulation of our threat physiology and the resulting proinflammatory state. 

As adults, we can use play to allow our physiology to take a rest from being productive, effective, or vigilant. We cannot connect when we are in survival mode, so we can use play to shut off survival mode, shift into a state of safety, and enjoy connection. In addition, play is one way to give our nervous system a physiological break from hypervigilance. Not to mention, it’s just fun and pleasurable. So, why do we neglect play when we grow up? And what is the cost?

Neglecting time for play may feel convenient in the short term, especially when we view our other responsibilities as more essential to survival. But if we neglect it for long periods, it undeniably affects our health and happiness. 

The Science of Social Play

Our adult brains aren’t developing as much as those of children, so the drive for play is lower and more easily dismissed. But human brains are malleable and can continue developing and growing for our entire lives. Play assists, and, some argue, stimulates this neurogenesis in adults, as it does in children. 

There is evidence showing that rats raised in enriched environments are smarter, with larger brains and more developed cortexes. One of the keys to enriching their environments is providing a variety of toy-like objects and socialization opportunities for play with other rats. It turns out that rats that play have better brain development. 

Play does not demand a rigid way of doing things; it’s improvisation; it keeps us open to chance and change. Play provides a space for new insight and creativity. When we try new behaviors and act outside of “normal,” we stumble onto new strategies for life—from new movements and behaviors to new thoughts and ways of being. 

Animals that grow out of play transition into a state of rigidity and fixed behaviors. They, like us, stop developing. When we lose interest in new and different things, we decrease opportunities to experience pleasure in our external world. In short, when we stop playing, we grow old. 

According to Stuart Brown, MD, author of the bestselling book Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, play deprivation is rampant and harmful. “What you begin to see when there’s major play deprivation in an otherwise competent adult is that they’re not much fun to be around… You begin to see that the perseverance and joy in work are lessened, and that life is much more laborious.

Play is something done for its own sake… It’s voluntary, it’s pleasurable, it offers a sense of engagement, it takes you out of time. And the act itself is more important than the outcome,” says Brown. “Play is an activity that is content-free, purposeless, all-consuming, and fun without a need to accomplish any required goals or tasks.”

When we are engaged in play, we enter a flow state and are not focused on the self, on how we look, feel, or think. Instead, we are absorbed in the activity and free from the constrictions of time. This pleasure drives our desire, and the joy of play urges us to keep doing it. Play is pure freedom. 

Play at Work

Play can be adapted to any environment. And contrary to the traditional view of the workplace, play provides benefits even at work. According to an article published by the Association for Psychological Science, “Research has found evidence that play at work is linked with less fatigue, boredom, stress, and burnout in individual workers. Play is also positively associated with job satisfaction, a sense of competence, and creativity. Studies show that when a participant receives a task that is presented playfully, they are more involved and spend more time on the task.” 

Realistically, even a little play in our routine can make us more productive and joyful. More play at work often translates to greater efficiency and productivity for both individuals and the company overall. In fact, play fosters trust, creative meeting climates, bonding, social interaction, and a sense of solidarity in work environments. It also decreases boundaries between hierarchical roles.

Play cultivates a friendly atmosphere, a high commitment culture, ability to relate to an unknown future, and flexible organization decision-making. Play helps you recover from the stress of the day and makes work life more sustainable long term. By equally prioritizing play, you become more efficient and productive at work.

More Reasons to Play

It turns out, Americans spend most of their leisure time on devices, which include watching television. Notably, television—not a form of play—accounts for three hours per day in contrast to about eighteen minutes of participating in sports, exercise, and recreation.

Only one in five adults participate in recreational activities daily. When it comes to children, there is a deficit of play in their daily routines. Pediatricians now actively recommend play as an essential component of brain development and overall health. Brown adamantly claims, “The science is clear: the joy of play nourishes our minds like food nourishes our bodies.”

We must safeguard time to play the same way we designate time to eat and sleep. Be intentional, make room for play on your schedule, and protect that time just like you would a work meeting or important call. 

In your personal life, play has many health benefits:

Brain Health: Play evolved over centuries and helps sculpt and maintain brain health. In the words of Stuart Brown, “… play seems to be one of the most advanced methods that nature has invented to allow a complex brain to create itself.” Lack of play causes a decrease in brain and muscle fiber development, communication, problem-solving, and social skills. In contrast, play affects the health of the frontal cortex—the area of the brain responsible for cognition and executive functions (eg, discernment of information, organization of thought and feeling, addressing the future). 

Play helps the brain learn and adapt through simulation and testing, making new connections, and innovating. Plus, along with REM sleep, play seems to work hand-in-hand with brain development and neural evolution. REM sleep strengthens neural connections while play creates new connections that didn’t exist before. 

Additionally, research shows that active play stimulates nerve growth in an area of the brain called the amygdala where we integrate and regulate emotions. This is particularly important in processing danger and threat and generating messages of safety. Sometimes we get too aggressive or overreact during play, but when this happens, we can more easily recover as well as learn and fine-tune our reactivity—lessons that we can apply, consciously or not, in life. 

In terms of dementia, play has been shown to have a protective role. Engaging in leisure activities such as playing board games, reading, playing a musical instrument, and dancing are associated with a reduced risk of dementia. 

Anti-Inflammatory: During play, we tend to laugh more. Laugher can influence levels of inflammatory cytokines and release natural painkillers, reducing inflammation and pain in the body. It can also decrease blood pressure, enhance circulation, help muscles relax, and improve immune system function. 

The famous Patch Adams, MD, knew this when he created the Gesundheit! Institute in 1971. He spent his career teaching medical students to cultivate connections with their patients. His prescription for care relied on humor and play, which he saw as essential to physical and emotional health. 

Weight Management: Physical activity and free play are essential to maintaining a healthy weight and supporting cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development and well-being. Before social media and digital devices, many children didn’t tend to worry about weight but instead rode bikes outside, played catch and hide & seek, and ran around with friends having fun. Back then, kids were rarely bored (and didn’t tend to mindlessly snack). In fact, parents had to call them in from outside and scold them for being late for dinner!

The decline in children’s active play is worrying to say the least. In one study looking at children aged ten to sixteen, researchers found that children spent seventy-five percent of the day inactive with an average of 10.4 waking hours each day relatively motionless. What’s more, they spent only 12.6 minutes per day in vigorous physical activity. According to the study authors, “Increased high-level physical activity is an important component in the development of self-esteem in children.”

Intellectual and Creative Growth: Play improves intelligence, adaptability, joy, social relationships, empathy, creativity, innovation, mental health, self-regulation, curiosity, perseverance, optimism, and progressive mastery. 

Strengthens Relationships: Play keeps relationships and partnerships healthy and builds closeness with those we love. Stuart Brown, MD, says, “The couples who sustain a sense of playfulness with each other tend to work out the wrinkles in their relationships much better than those who are really serious.” 

Understanding that we need more play is one thing; making it happen is entirely another. We are not very good at identifying how badly we are doing without play, erroneously assuming that how we currently feel is the “normal” way to feel. As such, we underestimate the impact lack of play has on our lives. Play is natural, despite it not feeling so. 

Incorporating more play requires intention first and foremost. Here are some ideas and strategies that might be helpful as you aim to incorporate more play in your daily life:

Kid at Heart: Think back on when you were a child and what you were naturally drawn to. Allow yourself to identify, without judgement, the things you loved as a child. Think of something you enjoyed so much that you got lost in it, time and time again. Notice how you feel when you imagine playing in similar ways. For example, did you love dancing? Imagine dancing similarly now. Were you more of an outdoors type or did you prefer playing inside? Did you prefer groups or solo play? Engage in the type of play you enjoyed doing as a child and never wanted to stop. 

Simple Pleasures in Life: Play can include things we enjoy, such as cooking and exercise. But it is play only as long as we do it with joy and without the pressure to show results or reach a goal. When you cook, do it for fun, creating a spontaneous meal because you love cooking (not due to the pressure of a dinner party). Jump rope and shoot hoops because it’s fun and takes your mind off your responsibilities, not because you want to lose weight or win a game. 

Everyday Fun: To help make play a habit, incorporate it into your daily life. Include play in planned activities or block separate time in your daily schedule. Start small, such as cranking up the music and dancing while doing the dishes or cleaning the house. Make folding laundry a family game and see who finishes first. Take five minutes before dinner to dance, an hour per week to play games with a friend, or why not go cycling on a weekend afternoon. 

In the words of George Berbard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” So, start playing and get your loved ones to join in and stay vibrant together.

—

Alona Pulde, MD, is a board-certified practitioner of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine & Family Medicine Physician. She is passionate about supporting clients with nutrition, attaining healthy body weight, and women’s health.

Matthew Lederman, MD, is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician & CNVC Certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication. He is passionate about integrating mind-body health treatment and applying the power of connection to help treat chronic disease.

Touted as doctors of the future, Pulde and Lederman combine conventional Western medicine, Chinese medicine, nutrition & lifestyle medicine, nonviolent communication, polyvagal theory, and trauma-informed, somatic principles & pain reprocessing to create their groundbreaking health paradigm. Together, Pulde and Lederman have co-authored five books, including The New York Times bestseller Forks Over Knives Plan, Forks Over Knives Family, and Keep It Simple, Keep it Whole. Learn more about their work at https://weheal.health.

Well Being Journal adapted the above excerpt from Wellness to Wonderful by Alona Pulde, MD, and Matthew Lederman, MD, copyright © 2023 by the authors and used with permission by WeHeal Publishers.