A professor says spending your time this way can improve happiness overall

The proverb “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is most often associated these days with Stephen King’s The Shining. But it had been coined long before Jack Torrance’s descent into madness — in the 17th century. Regardless of the time period, the message stays the same: constant work is never a good idea. We all need some leisure time on a regular basis.

Now, a fascinating new joint study from Rutgers University, The Ohio State University, and Harvard University is providing a new, scientific take on this idea. Their research strongly indicates that believing or feeling like leisure activities or time spent relaxing is a “waste” results in more stress and depression, greater anxiety, and less happiness overall. 

Why you should embrace leisure

“While work can impart meaning and a sense of purpose in life, leisure — such as time with family and friends, hobbies, and exercise — is what makes our lives happy and healthy,” says lead study author Gabriela Tonietto, an assistant professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick. “But not everyone sees value in time spent on leisure. Many hold a general belief that these activities are an unproductive use of time — at the cost of their own happiness. We find that believing leisure is wasteful causes time spent on leisure to be less enjoyable.”

One doesn’t have to browse the web and social media for long to find countless examples of articles, posts, and influencers telling everyone that “if you aren’t working hard and grinding, you’re losing in the game of life.” It’s certainly a good idea to have goals and work toward achieving them, but productivity needs to be offset by some rest and relaxation.

“There is plenty of research which suggests that leisure has mental health benefits and that it can make us more productive and less stressed,” adds study co-author Selin Malkoc, associate professor of marketing at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. “But we find that if people start to believe that leisure is wasteful, they may end up being more depressed and more stressed.”

It’s an incredibly relatable scenario. You’ve just finished up a long day’s work and finally, have some time to yourself. There’s no shortage of books, shows, and hobbies you would like to catch up on, but you can’t help but think about other problems and responsibilities in your life that need solving. Even the study’s own authors say it’s something they deal with quite often.

“Of the members of the research team, we all either are someone who has this issue or are close to someone who does,” Tonietto comments.

So, where does this all come from? Is it a modern phenomenon brought on by the constant comparison encouraged on social media? After all, it can be hard to unwind after checking Instagram and seeing everyone else succeed (or at least portray themselves as succeeding). According to Tonietto, the general idea that work comes before pleasure has existed for a long time — but there’s no denying it’s become more prevalent in recent decades.

“I don’t think it’s a recent development, but I think the manifestations of this belief are new. Throughout our modern history, many countries have adopted social norms that emphasize work and productivity and the delay of gratification,” she explains. “However, the internet and particularly social media can definitely make this much more visible. Like many attitudes and beliefs, it likely has a lot of sources. Recent research shows that people even brag about being busy on social media. This could absolutely feed into the idea that work poses benefits while leisure is a waste.”

Placing productivity and profit on a pedestal is a distinctly American way of looking at the world, but the study actually suggests that people all over the globe suffer from this aversion to leisure. One experiment conducted for this research included adults from the U.S., France, and India. While French participants were the least likely to see leisure as a negative, a decent portion of French adults still reported wrestling with such feelings.

“Most importantly, across these diverse cultures, we found that those individuals who believe leisure is wasteful reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress,” Prof. Tonietto states.

“We live in a global society and there are people everywhere that hear the same messages about how important it is to be busy and productive,” study co-author Rebecca Reczek, professor of marketing at Ohio State, notes. “And once you believe that, and internalize the message that leisure is a waste, our results suggest you’re going to be more depressed and less happy, no matter where you live.”

The value of not always being busy

Importantly, one notable loophole was discovered. Even those who can’t help but consider relaxation as wasteful can still enjoy leisure activities if they see value in said ventures. Exercise or meditation, for example.

With that finding in mind, the larger message of this work can serve as a panacea for considering leisure to be a waste. The next time you feel anxious about sitting down to watch a movie or simply turn your brain off for a few minutes, remind yourself that being unproductive now will help you achieve more and feel better later on.

“It may be helpful to think about the productive ways that individual leisure activities can serve their long-term goals,” Tonietto adds.

“Find ways to make fun activities part of a larger goal in your life,” Malkoc concludes, echoing a similar sentiment. “Think about how it is productive, instrumental, and useful.”

If 100 people were to be polled, all of them would say they generally want to be happy. The differences would undoubtedly arise when each person is asked exactly what happiness means. Many, almost certainly, would say happiness is synonymous with lots of zeros in their bank account.

Others may say happiness is a quiet night spent surrounded by loved ones. Whatever your personal definition of happiness is, be sure to include some rest and leisure. Work may keep a roof over our heads, but what’s the point if we can’t enjoy any of it? 

The full study can be found here, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.