What does enjoyment have to do with staying young?

Find a way to enjoy today
If you can’t find something to do that you enjoy today, then goof off soon.  Unwind with friends, go fishing, picnic, play cards, take your kids to the zoo, play golf, go to the beach or do whatever you enjoy.  It seems that “frivolous” indulgences are a must for longevity.

Research shows that spending ample time doing what you love may keep you from developing a whole host of disease risk factors. And that’s a great way to help extend your life. Having fun yet?

Rest from Stress?
Why would having fun be such a strong health facilitator? Researchers aren’t sure, but it may simply be that it reduces stress — that ravager of body and mind. Stress has long been shown to boost disease risk and hasten aging. Just one more solid argument for shortening that to-do list and finding something fun to do each day instead.

University of Florida research

According to Howard E.A. Tinsley, UF psychology professor, “With so many people in jobs they don’t care for, leisure is a prized aspect of people’s lives,” Tinsley said. “Yet it’s not something psychologists really study. Economists tell us how much money people spend skiing, but nobody explains what it is about skiing that is really appealing to people.”

When people in a study were assessed on how frequently they engaged in 10 different types of leisure activities, those who spent ample amounts of time having fun also had lower blood pressure, a slimmer waist, a smaller body mass index, and lower levels of the health-damaging stress hormone cortisol. The funsters also reported better physical function than the all-work-and-no-play crowd.  Having fun can lead to personal fulfillment.

Leisure activity isn’t the same for all of us

Fishing, back packing, canoeing, roller skating, skiing, hiking, and hunting are individual outdoor activities many enjoy.  Gardening turns others on.  Cooking is a great indoor hobby for some.  Sports like volleyball, baseball, golfing, and soccer are outdoor group activities that others like a lot.

Take up a hobby.  How about refined needlepoint, making furniture, stamp collecting, making dolls, or indoor crafts as fulfillment?  Perhaps collecting stamps, or building cars or planes from kits.  The really skillful hoby is building a ship in a bottle.  How do they do that?

Like to play games with friends?  Bridge, spades, gin rummy, canasta, and hearts can be leisurely or competitive.  The same with checkers and chess, also Scrabble.

What Tinsley found

Tinsley obtained numerical scores for values such as “challenge” and “hedonism,” and grouped some 82 leisure activities into 11 categories. For example, dining out and watching movies fall into the “sensual enjoyment” category, playing soccer and attending sports clubs meetings satisfy participants’ desires for a sense of “belongingness” and coin collecting and baking fulfill their need for “creativity.”

“Or how one activity relates to another, perhaps in unexpected ways,” Tinsley said.

“Fishing, generally considered more of an outdoor or recreational activity, for example, is a form of self-expression like quilting or stamp collecting, because it gives people the opportunity to express themselves by doing something completely different from their daily routine,” he said. “People drive by a lake and see guys in their bass fishing boats and think they’re just sportsmen, but really they’re taking part in an activity that gives them a chance to express some aspect of their personality.”

Another anomaly is picnicking, which is grouped with play attendance, mostly because it appeals to the senses.

“Going on a picnic usually means getting outside by a stream or lake or forest or someplace attractive, just as watching a play or musical has aesthetic qualities,” he said.  “Both activities also are immediately gratifying, without requiring stress or a long-term commitment, and they confer a sense of status.  Picnicking often occurs in a family hierarchy, in which participants have a recognized position within a small community,” he said. “Attending a play or musical offers a sense of standing because of the social perception that the cultured elite go to the theater.”

Tinsley said, “for people who pride themselves on being conscientious, service activities such as attending church or volunteering in a scout group may be favorite ways to spend spare time. Those at the opposite extreme may love bingo or television.”

“People often disparage watching television, but by providing an opportunity to get away from any sense of obligation it gives viewers a chance to relax and renew their physical and intellectual resources,” he said.

Resource Center:

Meditation’s Real Effects on Health
Stressed About Office Work? Here’s How to Relax

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