Daydreaming, that experience of letting your mind wander into alternative pasts and possible futures, can be both a blessing and a curse depending on what’s going on around you. It all depends on the kind of daydreaming you're doing. While daydreaming may seem like an idle waste of time, research shows that some kinds of daydreams can be useful. They help people to explore ideas, envision situations, and get a better sense of their future selves. All of which contribute to success.
Those who do it often gain one thing that is frequently missing in society: imagination. Most of us spend one-third to half of our waking moments daydreaming. There are names for those who daydream, and most aren’t nice like underachiever, space cadet, and slacker. So next time you’re struggling to drag yourself back to reality, consider these ways daydreaming can benefit you:
It
boosts your intelligence If your knack
for losing yourself in thought ever got between you and good grades don't
worry. Chances are you’re more intelligent than your school records suggest. In
fact, you may be a genius. Researchers theorize that there are many types of
intelligence beyond the traditional cognitive
skills measured on IQ tests — things such as musical and spatial intelligence.
NYU psychology
professor Scott Barry Kaufman suggests expanding the list of intelligences to
include "spontaneous"
cognitive skills like intuition and sudden insights, which are only accessed by letting your mind ramble. Your
daydreaming may not be a direct route to straight A’s, but it can make you more
successful than your more outwardly-focused peers by significantly enhancing
your personal awareness, your understanding of events and others, and your
ability to achieve your dreams.
It
heightens your ability to perform complex mental tasks Were your parents and teachers always reminding you to pay
attention? Turns out all those “lost” hours were just as important as the ones
spent doing “important” tasks like homework and taking notes. Scientists have
long thought that solving mental puzzles required full activation of the
brain’s network for external, goal-focused thinking and a shutdown of the
neural network for internal thinking (which includes “interfering” daydreams).
Now researchers at Cornell University have found that mental performance is sharpened when both external and internal networks are employed
together. So next time you need to ramp up your brainpower, don’t rein in your
wandering mind. Let it roam a bit for maximum smarts.
It
helps relaxation and cuts harmful stress
There’s not a lot of research on using daydreaming to relax. But because it’s
similar to other mind-calming techniques like meditation, guided imagery, and
hypnosis — all of which give your brain a mini-vacation from high-intensity,
task-focused thinking — the effects may be similar. Relaxation methods
are known to cut stress by taking your
mind off worrying thoughts and slowing body functions, including heart rate and
breathing.
In turn, this boosts your body’s health by reducing stress-related symptoms, like high blood
pressure and headaches, and improving your ability to fight off illness.
Assuming your daydreams are pleasant distractions from life’s hustle and
bustle, indulging in daily reveries should not only tame tension and anxiety
but also enhance your physical vitality.
It
makes you more creative If you’re
particularly skilled at zoning out, you’re in good company. History
is full of high-achieving daydreamers: Einstein, Newton, and the Bronte sisters
all lived much of their lives in their imaginations. In fact, setting their minds adrift led to their most
towering creative achievements and “aha” moments. A recent study by scientists
at the University of California, Santa Barbara, helps explain this
daydreaming-creativity connection.
Researchers
found that people who took a mental break after working on a demanding creative
task by performing a mindless task were about 40 percent more
creative when they returned to the tough
task than those who rested, worked on a different demanding task, or took no
break at all. The conclusion: Boring tasks that foster daydreaming open the
creativity gates.
It
strengthens your working memory It
might seem like daydreaming would dull your ability to remember things like where
you put your car keys. Research suggests your straying thoughts aren’t actually
memory killers. In fact, mind drifting may enhance your working memory (the
ability to retain and recall lots of information at once). Scientists from the
University of Wisconsin and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and
Brain Science found that participants who performed easy tasks that promoted
daydreaming were more likely to
remember information on a tough memorization task later
even when they were distracted. In other words, your wandering mind bolsters
your storage-and-retrieval skills.
“The average daydream is about fourteen
seconds long and we have about two thousand of them per day. In other words, we
spend about half of our waking hour’s one-third of our lives on earth spinning
fantasies.” (Jonathan Gottschall)[i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“10 Fascinating Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Daydreaming” by Laura Caseley
·
“5
ways daydreaming is good for you” by Sidney Stevens
No comments:
Post a Comment