Episode #120 -Play is Medicine

Did you know play and fun may be the missing piece to your healing?

 

Our society tells us we must work hard to get what we want, and we may discredit things that seem too easy.

 

But there are many scientific benefits of play.

 

We can learn faster (It takes only 10-40 repetitions in play, vs 400 repetitions).

 

Play, happiness or joy release endorphins (pain relieving qualities).

 

Play improves brain function, flexible thinking, improves memory and stimulates growth of the cerebral cortex.

 

Play is restorative- and it is the opposite of the fear-based survival states.

 

But if you’re not used to playing and find it hard, you can grow your capacity to be in the “rest and repair state”.

 

Listen in for more explanations of play as medicine, and how you can start to add more play to your life!

 

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Transcript- Automatically Generated:

This is Betsy Jensen, and you are listening to Unstoppable Body and Mind, Episode 120, Play is Medicine. In this podcast, we learn to upgrade our brain and understand the power of our thoughts, to heal and to create the results we want in our life. Become the person in control of your healing and make peace with your life.
Become unstoppable body and mind. Hello, my loves. Today, I'm talking about one of my favorite concepts, and that is that play is medicine.
Play is important. Play and fun are part of healing. We tend to have this idea that we need to work hard, that healing is going to be hard, that things aren't very valuable if we don't work hard to get them, and we tend to even discount if things are easy.
Like, it's not going to work if you're just having fun, resting, feeling good. You have to work hard to get the results you want. But the opposite is actually true with healing, especially healing chronic pain and disease.
When your nervous system is already dysregulated and in a high alert state, working hard and pushing can keep you dysregulated. You just need to have the balance of work and play for healing. I'm going to tell you a few of the scientific reasons that play is important.
When we learn in play, we actually learn much more quickly. Dr. Karen Purvis says that scientists have discovered it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain. Unless it's done in play, in which case it only takes 10 to 20.
So 400 repetitions, doing it the hard work way, versus 10 to 20 repetitions when you're doing it in a fun, playful way. Your brain learns better that way, and it actually changes the chemicals in your body. This is a quote from Curable.
Joy, play, relaxation, spontaneity, acceptance of the present moment, and gratitude all have the ability to release pain-inhibiting chemicals in the body. In play, we actually release endorphins, so we feel less pain. Play also improves brain function and encourages flexible thinking.
Play improves memory. It sparks creativity and imagination. It keeps us feeling young and energetic.
It stimulates growth of the cerebral cortex, and play is restorative. So instead of just trying to tell your nervous system over and over that you're safe, in play, you're actually showing your nervous system that you're safe. In nervous system terms, you could think of play in the parasympathetic calm state.
When you're feeling safe, when you're feeling connected and inspired, when your basic needs are met, when you're not focusing on fear and worries and unmet needs, you can be in the state of things are going to be okay. Life is working out for me. And even being in that state momentarily, it's the rest and repair state, has healthy benefits for your body.
We need to not just decrease our anxiety, but increase the amount of time that we're in this parasympathetic calm state, feeling content, satisfied, happy, joyful, grateful, and we can do that through play. If you're not used to resting or playing, it can seem boring. It can seem pointless, like you should be doing something.
If you're used to being in that high alert state of flight, where you're perfectionistic, and you don't feel like you can rest, and you want to always be doing things, it can be actually uncomfortable at first to lean into resting and playing. I've had people where they actually start to get pain signals because they're resting and their nervous system is not used to it and wants to keep going back to that high alert state to give them something to worry about. So realize if you haven't been in that safe-feeling, playful state very much lately, that first of all, that's understandable.
Don't be too hard on yourself. If it's not easy to just start having fun, let your guard down and start wanting to play. I have a million screenshots saved on my phone, and this quote is from Adam Grant.
Resting is not a waste of time. It's an investment in well-being. Relaxing is not a sign of laziness.
It's a source of energy. Breaks are not distractions. They're a chance to refocus attention.
Play is not a frivolous activity. It's a path to connection and creativity. I love this because when I look at the description of the parasympathetic calm state, it is the place that you're actually using your prefrontal cortex more than the survival states, you know, where you're using your primitive brain, your amygdala, limbic system.
So in the parasympathetic calm state or when you're playing, you have a better ability to connect, to learn, to be inspired, to be in the present moment, to connect and to be creative. In pain reprocessing therapy, like in the book The Way Out by Alan Gordon, they talk about avoidance activities. Even that name kind of makes it sound bad, like you're not doing it right because you're avoiding.
But especially when your pain is high, you're not going to be able to process all of the emotions or the physical sensations. You're not going to be able to do somatic tracking as easily, which is being neutral about sensations. So especially when your pain is high, you need to distract.
You need to avoid. You need to just go watch a show or lay down or take a break from work and stretch. We're not meant to process all of our feelings and emotions all of the time that won't help us heal.
We have to have these times that we're also feeling good, having fun, thinking pleasant thoughts. Especially if you're in the nervous system state of freeze. That is the overwhelm, shut down.
You're likely to have a lot of negative, sad, depressed emotions like shame and helplessness, hopelessness, overwhelm, despair. And you also have a very low capacity for processing emotions when you're in shame. You're so dysregulated and you're having so many of these negative emotions, it's too much for you to process.
You're not going to process your way out of them. A lot of times you'll hear you have to feel it to heal it, but when you're stuck in freeze, you could just keep feeling it and feeling it and feeling it. And because of the pain fear cycle, your pain is actually getting worse.
So please understand that part of healing is not just working hard, but also leaning into things that feel good. There's a book called Letting Go by Dr. David Hawkins, and he talks about when you're in a very stressful situation, that it's actually good to take some purposeful distractions. So you're not just mindlessly going to the pantry and eating whatever's there, but maybe you do get your favorite chocolate bar and have some pieces of it.
Here's a quote from Letting Go that talks about how we can mindfully push emotions away until we have the capacity to deal with them. When the emotion or we could talk about pain, sensation, is overwhelming, we want to disassemble it and let it go in bits and pieces. He says, It's all right consciously to push away as much of the emotion as we're capable of at the moment.
It's also all right in this circumstance consciously to utilize escape mechanisms, such as going out in a social situation, playing with a dog, watching television, going to the movies, playing music, making love, or whatever one's habit is under the circumstances. So this is how you can reduce the intensity of the feeling or sensation so that you can process it when your brain is more online. One example I noticed where I had resistance in my life to feeling good was when my mom passed away.
And I remember within the first few days, I was also doing some normal things of life, as you do, taking my daughter to school, and I heard a song on the radio that I liked, and I started to dance to it and smile. And then I remembered, no, I can't. I'm in grief.
Almost like it would be not honoring my mom if I felt good when there's this bad situation. And you might see some of that in yourself. Maybe it's because you've had pain so long or because of the things in the world or someone else that you love is sad, and so you don't really feel okay about feeling good in your life or doing things that bring you joy or have fun.
But although it's counterintuitive, although it may not feel natural at first, play and fun and joy and happiness may be the missing piece to your healing. Now, if you're like a lot of adults that I talk to, they don't even know what they like anymore. They don't have really good ideas of things that are fun for them.
Often the people that I coach with chronic pain, the thing that they really used to love, they're not able to do anymore because of their pain and restrictions with activity. So it can be a challenge to start to have ideas of what's even fun for you. This is part of the process.
It's like this playground you get to experiment with and see what you like. It can be intimidating at first. That's normal.
So here are some ideas for play. Laughter, so sharing a joke. Playing with a pet or child.
And I just remember when my kids were young and they would want me to play with them, how draining and exhausting that was for me at that point. I was not in the parasympathetic calm state. Felt like I had a lot of things to do.
So if it seems more taxing to you to play with a child or a dog, choose something that sounds easier from this list. You could remember what you like to do as a child. So maybe you were into art or construction or science kits or more social activities.
You could go outside. Even if you're not able to walk outside, sitting outside, putting your bare feet on the earth, those types of things can feel fun and playful. You could dance or listen to music.
And even if you're not physically able to get up and dance, even closing your eyes and visualizing yourself dancing can be very powerful. And also just prioritizing play, giving yourself some time to be lazy and figure out what comes up for you, what ideas you have. I like to think that there are hundreds of different ways that you can regulate your nervous system, that you can rewire your pain, and that you can process these emotions.
And what we get to do is figure out for us what feels most downstream. I got this concept from Abraham Hicks. They talk about upstream and downstream.
So if you put your canoe in the river and start paddling upstream, you're not going to get very far, and it's going to be really tiring. And it will look like you're working really hard and you'll feel really accomplished because you've done so much, but also you're not going to get as far. And downstream would be you put your canoe in and you get a lot further because you're going with the flow.
It's not as hard for you to make yourself do these things that are supposed to be beneficial for you. So what's upstream or downstream for me is going to be different than for you. Something that's downstream for me is dancing, like partner dancing.
And for other people, that would not be pleasant or relaxing at all. You can really start with thinking of what's the next easiest thing. When I first started this work, I would think, okay, I'll relax by buying a new instrument, taking lessons, and learning a skill.
Like, that's what I was thinking I would do to relax. But this I'm talking about just playing, spending time, doing something that you enjoy without a result or outcome that you're looking for. Sometimes there are just things you have to do, and they're not very fun.
So I do like to ask myself, how could I make this more fun? Or how could this be more playful? So sometimes I might set a timer, or I might turn on some music.
Use your powerful brain to ask it questions like this, and you may be surprised at what answers you come up with. I promise you that going downstream and working with your nervous system and doing more things that are playful and fun and bring joy, this will help your healing faster than working hard and trying to do it perfectly. If you feel like fun might be part of what you're missing in your healing journey, then please look up my coaching and my programs.
I'm offering a $39 clarity call with me. If you want to talk more about your situation and how play may help you in your healing journey. Thank you so much for listening.
I hope you learned a little bit about your brain today that helps you in your life like it helped me. Please be sure and subscribe and leave a review. And of course, be sure and share this podcast with someone you know that wants an unstoppable body and mind.