Play Your Anxiety Away

Imagine a playground crowded with children playing: shouts of joy as one travels down the slide. Laughter from a game of tag. Smiles of contentment from little ones being pushed on swings.

If we look closely, this playground scene holds a profound teaching about dealing with stress and anxiety: Play and anxiety cannot co-exist.

If those children were to begin to worry, they would cease to play. Conversely, if they took their worries with them onto the playground, they would never start to play in the first place.

We know that play is important for children’s growth and development, but play is also increasingly being studied for its importance in adult mental health. The consensus is that play is as important for adults as it is for children, serving different but equally important roles. Yes, even though play comes more naturally to the little ones, we must discard our hang-ups (e.g., beliefs that adults are “too old” for play) and find ways to make play a part of our lives. Though play comes without effort for children, adults must actually work at and schedule play into their lives.

A 2011 article looking at playfulness in adults showed a correlation between one’s propensity to play and positive emotional and intellectual functioning. They looked at five elements of play behavior—spontaneous, expressive, creative, fun, and silly—and concluded, “The fun-variant of playfulness was most strongly related with emotional strengths while intellectual strengths yielded robust relations with all facets of playfulness.”

The issue is in finding ways to help adults play more. In the words of Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and founder of the National Institute for Play, “The adult play deficit is becoming a public health crisis.”

3 Ways Play Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Play Grounds Us in the Present

If we could print out the stream of thoughts of those children on the playground, it would surely show us that they are fully in the present as they run, jump, slide, hop, swing, hide, scream, and laugh. This contrasts with the mindset of a person who struggles with anxiety, as they often experience regret about the past and worry about the future. Staying in the present is challenging for those with anxiety, as a lack of presence can be both the cause and effect of the anxiety itself. Finding ways to play can help us reorient our thoughts into the present, thus lowering anxiety.

Play Connects Us with Others

Mental health is very much related to our connections with others. Play acts as a natural way to connect with others. A recent National Geographic article explored this in depth, connecting what we see in animals and how it relates to us as humans. For instance, animals that play into adulthood tend to live in cooperative social groups. As the article states, “This observation has led biologists to discover what is perhaps the most important function of adult play: building and maintaining relationships.”

Play Returns Us to Our Inner Child

Hidden under layers of anxiety—for some, more deeply than others—is the inner child, alive and well. As we work to move past the notion that adults aren’t allowed to play, we can begin to awaken the inner child and invite them to come play with us.

I watch this take place at a community running/walking program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that I am a part of named Running Medicine, where we have toddlers, elders, and many in-between moving together to improve their well-being. The children teach us adults how to be silly, as they are the experts at play. And what a wonderful sight it is to see us adults take their lead and start to play again. The inner child in all of us is just waiting for a safe place like this to become our friend again!

Now, let’s take a look at how we can increase play and improve our mental health in the process.

A 5-Step Process to Increase Play in Your Life

1. Write About Play

Consider setting aside a dedicated “play journal” and write down your first memories of play. Get specific: Where was this, what was the game, and with whom? In doing so, you are helping to refresh your memories of play and awaken the inner child. You might also write about what your current relationship with play looks like, including any struggles or discomfort you have with being a playful person. Finally, you can write about how you feel play could help address anxiety and stress in your life.

2. Examine Your Current Dosage of Play

When making any lifestyle change, it is always good to get a baseline measurement of your current experience. Here we simply want to assess the question, “Am I playing on a regular basis?” with a potential goal being to play on a weekly basis. For a bit more guidance in assessing this, we might look to the aforementioned studied elements of play: spontaneous, expressive, creative, fun, and silly. How often are you experiencing these feelings and prioritizing play?

3. Note Where You Might Begin to Play

Particularly for those whose answer to the above was “No, I am not playing on a regular basis,” now is a great time to think about ways you might begin to play more. Think of people and groups you already know with whom you could “jump in the sandbox.” For those with significant anxiety, this can be hard, as play does require us to be vulnerable. So, think of places and spaces in which you feel comfortable, and then brainstorm how you might begin to play (or play more often) in these environments.

4. Jump in the Sandbox

Back on the playground, we would see that, to begin playing, all of the kids have to take some risk: hoping that the person they ask will play tag with them or that, once in the sandbox, others will want to play with them. For adults, particularly those who struggle with anxiety, jumping in the sandbox is both difficult and quite liberating once we have done it. So, jump in and be ready for surprises.

And guess what? Kids also know that there will be rejections and failures. There will be a slide that is just a bit too big and fast and will lead to a fall and scraped elbow. These are things that we recover and learn and grow from. Watch that same kid two minutes later: The allure of continued play overcomes the distress of getting a “boo-boo,” and the child is back out there as if nothing happened.

5. Reflect on How Play Has Affected Your Anxiety or Stress

After one or two months of intentionally playing more, take time for yourself, return to your “play journal” from Step 1, and use it to see what growth you have seen in yourself. Now, write a bit about changes you have noticed in yourself around anxiety and stress as a result of playing more. For instance, many people with anxiety struggle with sleep. If that is or was you, take an account of whether your sleep has improved since increasing play. If sleep has improved, most likely anxiety and stress have improved as well.

My friends, I hope this helps you on your journey. I would write more … but I am off to play my anxiety away!

Learn more about why your soul needs playtime.