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Elise Marquam-Jahns

Elise Marquam-Jahns

    HAPPINESS

    The Importance of Play in the Years After 60

    by Elise Marquam-Jahns August 6, 2022
    written by Elise Marquam-Jahns

    Just the other day, I was walking near a park
    close to our home and heard what I can only
    describe as the joyous squeal of a toddler who’d just gone down a slide.

    And I’ll always remember the look of pure joy
    on the face of our Golden Retriever, Lucy, as she chased after a tennis ball.
    This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless and it’s fun.

    As we become adults though, taking time out of our busy schedules for the
    purpose of play feels like a guilty pleasure – more of a distraction from “real” work and life.

    Dr. Stuart Brown, a recent guest on one of our Learning Well radio shows, has
    found that play is anything but
    trivial.

    It is a biological drive as integral to our
    health as sleep or nutrition. In fact,
    our ability to play throughout life is an extremely important factor in
    determining our success and happiness.

    Dr. Brown’s
    Study of Play

    Dr. Brown has spent his career studying animal
    behavior and conducting more than six
    thousand
    “play histories” of humans from all walks of life – from serial murderers to
    Nobel Prize winners.

    His book, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, explains why play is essential to our social skills, adaptability, intelligence, creativity, ability to problem-solve, and more.

    Play is hardwired into our brains and is the
    mechanism by which we become resilient, smart, and adaptable people.

    Play also
    has profound implications for child development and the way we parent,
    education and social policy, business innovation, productivity, and even the future
    of our society.

    Animal
    Research and Play

    Research has determined that when animals are
    play-deprived, they don’t develop a normal brain. For instance, rats are
    hardwired to play in their juvenile years, just as they are hardwired to flee
    and hide when they smell the odor of a cat.

    In one study, rats were divided into two
    groups: one group was allowed to play while the other was prevented from it. When
    a collar saturated with cat odor was introduced to the two groups, all rats
    fled and hid.

    The rats that weren’t allowed to play never
    came back out and died. The rats that were allowed to play carefully came out,
    slowly looked around, and survived.

    In another interesting scenario, that was
    captured in a series of photographs by a German photographer, a 1200-pound
    polar bear with a fixed, predatory look, approached a group of tethered
    Huskies.

    But the fixed and rigid behavior of the bear,
    which often results in a meal, changed when one of the female Huskies did a
    play “bow” and started wagging her tail.

    They ended up pawing and playing together and
    the bear returned each day for five more days to continue the play. An
    incredible differential in power was overridden by a process of nature that’s
    in all of us.

    The Benefits
    of Play

    Play is instinctive and suppressing it makes
    children and adults more vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and impulsivity.

    Some of the benefits of play include developing
    trust, empathy, optimism, flexibility, attunement, three-dimensional thinking,
    perseverance, emotional regulation and resilience, imagination, openness to
    receiving inspired “aha” moments and problem-solving skills.

    The
    Importance of Play for Problem Solving

    Speaking of problem-solving skills, Nate
    Johnson, who taught auto mechanics at a high school in Long Beach, California,
    noticed that many of his students couldn’t solve problems or fix cars.

    After observing this behavior and having
    discussions with his students, he concluded that those students who couldn’t
    solve problems had not worked with their hands or fixed things when they were
    younger.

    Johnson recently teamed up with neurologist
    Frank Wilson to consult with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If the lab is
    looking for a research and development problem solver, they will pass up summa cum laude Harvard or Cal Tech
    graduates if they didn’t work with their hands early in their lives.

    Why Is Play
    Important for Us Now?

    All the research has shown that lack of play
    when children are young can have a dramatic and negative impact on their future
    development, but why should we include play in our life now?

    According to Dr. Brown, the research is clear
    on this front as well: lack of play makes us more vulnerable to depression,
    anxiety and impulsivity even in the years past 60.

    And the benefits of play are many: the ability
    to be more optimistic, flexible, resilient, and open to receiving inspired
    “aha” moments and problem-solving skills.

    So, whether we throw a tennis ball for our dog,
    invest in a coloring book and some crayons, or get lost in a creative project,
    we’re continuing to help our brains and our bodies as the years go by.

    As Dr. Brown has said, “Our heritage as humans
    is to play. We are built to play and built by play.”

    What are the first, joyful images you have of
    yourself playing? Are you able to have moments of play in your life now? If so,
    what kinds of “play” do you enjoy? Please share with our community!

    Let\’s Have a Conversation!

    August 6, 2022 0 comment
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