Why Grownups Should Be Playful Too

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 February 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Playfulness can improve your relationships, help you excel at work, and reduce stress. We explore a strategy shown to help you become more playful.

Link to episode transcript: http://tinyurl.com/b5xc78r3

Episode summary:

Patricia Mebrahtu used to have so much fun as a child. Now, as a medical assistant and mother of two young children, she found herself feeling burnt out and irritable. For our show, Patricia tried a practice to infuse more playfulness into her life. From singing karaoke with her family to playing in the rain, she tapped into her inner child. Through this practice, Patricia recognized the importance of taking time out for yourself, and that she can carve out opportunities to have fun and be playful, even as a busy adult. Later, we hear from psychologist René Proyer about the different types of playfulness, and how incorporating play can benefit our sense of wellbeing.

Practice:

Each day for a week, incorporate one playful activity into your routine – it can be anything you find enjoyable and playful.
Every evening, write about the experience, and how it made you feel in the present moment.

Today’s guests:

Patricia Mebrahtu is a mother and medical assistant in California.

René Proyer is a psychologist from the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

Learn about René’s work: http://tinyurl.com/4sa9vye9

Follow René on Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/3x5986u6

Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

Can We Play? http://tinyurl.com/prhv22rf

What Playfulness Can Do for Your Relationship: http://tinyurl.com/n9b3h7e4

Tuesday Tip: Play with Some Friends: http://tinyurl.com/mu837nwr

More Resources on Being Playful:

BBC - Playtime: Is it time we took 'play' more seriously? http://tinyurl.com/4jmx89vn

NYT - Why We All Need to Have More Fun: http://tinyurl.com/335z4bdu

Washington Post - Why it’s good for grown-ups to go play: http://tinyurl.com/5w8shen

TED - The Importance of PLAY in adulthood and childhood: http://tinyurl.com/4hsn9um4

How do you incorporate play into your life? Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

Rate us on Spotify and share this link with someone who might like the show: http://tinyurl.com/up29j8zk

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you're young everything just feels like, you know, like, oh, this is the best time I'm having ever.
0:11.0	When you're an adult, everything's so laid out for you so you're like oh man is this fun? I'm not sure if this is am I having fun is everyone else having fun?
0:26.0	So Sunday, it was raining, Sunday night, and I was like, let's go outside.
0:28.0	Me and my husband, we've been inside, we got a little cold and flu,
0:32.0	so I'm like, let's go outside. It's a beautiful night or backyard is filled with puddles. I was like let's just go.
0:42.0	We just played in the puddles and in the rain, you know, he was like dancing around and I was just running around.
0:50.0	It got a little cold, so we came back back in but I felt so rejuvenated
0:57.3	It felt nostalgic I felt like back when I was like eight years old having the best time of my life with my friend,
1:06.2	it felt like no one else was in the world but just me and him having a good time.
1:11.4	And I love my husband's laugh so it was just nice to hear. Hello and welcome to the Science of Happiness. I'm Shuka Kalantari,
1:28.8	executive producer of the podcast, filling in for Decker Countner. We're so excited to explore
1:34.5	playfulness with you all this week because it's such an important thing that often
1:38.6	goes unnoticed in our grown-up lives. Research shows playfulness has some incredible benefits. When we're
1:45.5	playful or even just reflect on past times that we were, it does things like buffer
1:50.5	our stress and cortisol response and help strengthen our relationships.
1:55.5	Our guest, Patricia Mabratu, was not feeling the least bit playful.
2:01.1	In fact, she was completely burned out, both by her job as a medical assistant and as a mother of two young boys.
2:08.0	So she tried an exercise for a show to bring more playfulness into her life.
2:13.0	Dacker spoke with Patricia about how that went.
2:15.6	We'll hear their conversation and also learn more
2:18.0	about the science of playfulness
2:19.9	from the psychologist who created the practice
	...

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