For many Americans, down time is spent on smartphones, scrolling on social media or interacting with apps.
While this may keep you occupied, it’s taking you away from valuable brain activity achieved only through good old-fashioned boredom. Emplify Health by Bellin is encouraging community members to incorporate time to unplug and be bored to boost healthy brain activity.
When brains are focused on a task, such as playing a game or watching a video, the brain’s attention networks are at full power. When those stimulations are removed, those same networks can quiet down and allow for a default mode to take over. While boredom is something many try to avoid, when the default mode is activated, some amazing brain activity can happen.
“Being bored is one of the greatest ways to get encourage creative thinking and new ideas,” said Mackenzi Conard, Emplify Health mental health therapist. “It’s also a perfect opportunity to process experiences and even self-reflect. Boredom means that your brain can organically switch between ‘on’ and ‘off’ to foster more dynamic thinking. It’s something you can’t do if you are constantly on a task.”
Even in this highly digital and stimulating world, there are plenty of opportunities to be bored. Consider doing this to help switch your brain to default mode:
• Say no to the phone. Let yourself experience true waiting — whether it’s at the doctor’s office or waiting for a food pickup order.
• Take a walk without headphones. Take in the sounds and sights around you.
• Keep engaging activities nearby. Sketching, doing a puzzle or reading a book can engage your mind, rather than numbing it.
• Notice your surroundings and the people. Idle moments are the perfect time to reconnect with the physical world and the people who are in the same space as you. Remember: you never know what a smile to a stranger can do.
“Stimulation isn’t a bad thing,” Conard said. “We just want to avoid filling every gap in our days with content and ideas from a screen. Our brain can do very cool things when given the chance to be bored; we just have to let it be bored enough to start.”
