“Alone Time” Is Really Good for You
June 04, 2015
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Story at-a-glance
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People have just as good of a time engaging in fun
activities alone as they do when they’re with others
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Spending time alone can boost your creativity, help you work
more efficiently, boost your mood, provide relaxation time,
and more
By Dr. Mercola
Eighty-five percent of Americans believe it’s
important to have times when they are completely alone
and away from anyone else, according to a recent Pew
survey. Another 55 percent believe this is very
important while 30 percent say it’s somewhat important.1
This desire for occasional solitude gives your body
and, perhaps more importantly, your mind space and time
to just be in the moment, experiencing it with your full
attention and focus. It turns out alone time of this
sort is highly rewarding.
If you’ve ever hesitated to spend time alone, perhaps
believing you won’t enjoy it, a recent study found that
people have just as good of a time engaging in fun
activities alone as they do when they’re with
others. The only down side came when the loners worried
about how they would look to others, perhaps appearing
they had no one to spend time with.2
This latter issue is easily overcome by positive
thinking and directing your focus to your activities at
hand and the enjoyment it brings. However, aside from
enjoyment, spending time alone offers may additional
benefits.
7 Top Benefits of Alone Time
What do you stand to gain simply from spending some
“me time” alone? CNN recently compiled numerous
benefits:3
1. Boost Creativity
Even though brainstorming is often promoted as
the best way to gather ideas, research shows that
people who work alone and later pool their ideas
actually come up with far more ideas.4
2. Work Harder and More Efficiently
Working alone can also prompt you to work more
intensely and efficiently, as you know it’s up to
you to finish the task and do it well. In a group
setting, most people believe they have to put in
less effort since more people are involved.
3. Restore Your Energy
This is especially relevant to introverts, who
feel social interactions zap their energy. Spending
time alone gives you time to recharge your
batteries, in a sense, so you can go back into the
social scene feeling refreshed and at the top of
your game.
4. Meet New People
Ironically, spending time doing activities alone
is actually a great opportunity to meet others who
share your interests. When you’re alone, you’re far
more likely to interact with people around you,
including those you may not have struck up a
conversation with had you been in other company.
5. Boost Your Mood, Particularly in Teens
For teens, spending some time in solitude had a
“positive after effect on emotional state,” and
those who spent an intermediate amount of their time
alone were better adjusted than those who spent
either a little or a great deal of time alone.
The researchers concluded that solitude in
adolescence can have a constructive role in daily
life and offers “a strategic retreat that
complements social experience.”5
6. Clear Your Mind
Spending time alone helps your mind to process
information and offers time for reflection. As
reported by CNN:6
"‘Constantly being 'on' doesn't give your
brain a chance to rest and replenish itself,’
Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D. wrote in Psychology
Today. Being by yourself with no distractions
gives you the chance to clear your mind, focus,
and think more clearly. It's an opportunity to
revitalize your mind and body at the same time."7
7. Do What You Want
When you’re alone, you can spend the day doing
whatever it is you want, without worrying about
others desires. So if you love to hike but your
partner doesn’t, going alone gives you a chance do
something you love, which we all deserve on a
regular basis.
Why Some People Look Forward to Their Commute
Long commutes can be dangerous for your health in
that they add additional
sitting time to your day and can be quite stressful,
especially if you’re in heavy traffic. However, a recent
Australian study found that some people actually look
forward to their commutes because it provides an
opportunity for alone time. According to the report:8
“For many commuters, the journey to and from
work is a necessary transition time between home and
work. Some participants even described how they
would actually extend their journeys in time by
waiting somewhere along the route or travelling a
different way.
For some, the commute home was a valuable
opportunity to process work-related issues that were
unwelcome at home. For others, commuting time was a
valuable personal time out from responsibilities of
both work and home life.
Some participants said this was the only time
that they get to be themselves during the week, and
so used it to dream, relax, and meditate. A
distinctive advantage of public transport is the
freedom that it permits for doing things that they
see as ‘luxuries.’”
There were downsides to commuting reported in the
study as well, but it does shed some light on the
continued importance of alone time in people’s lives,
even if the only alone time you get is during your
morning and evening commute.
What Makes Being Alone Healthy or Harmful? Feeling
Lonely
Purposefully spending time alone is quite a different
phenomenon than feeling lonely. The former is defined as
solitude and is often associated with getting to know
your inner self, finding inner peace, and restoring and
refreshing your body, mind, and soul.
The latter, loneliness, is a feeling of being
disconnected from those around you and wishing you had
that connection. While solitude is great for mental
health, stress relief, and even building relationships,
loneliness is not.
Negative emotions will invariably impact your
physical well-being, and loneliness is no different.
Research reveals that feeling lonely raises your blood
pressure up to 14 points, with greater increases coming
the more years the lonely feelings persist.9
A separate study found that the risk of developing
dementia also increased about 51 percent for each
one-point increase on a loneliness scale.10
What’s interesting, though, is that brain deposits
that normally develop in Alzheimer’s patients were not
seen among those who were lonely, indicating that the
emotion triggers dementia through a different mechanism,
such as higher levels of stress hormones, cancer, or
high blood pressure (all of which are more likely to
occur in lonely people).
Other studies have also shown that being socially
isolated can cause health problems, including weakening
your immune system and resulting in sleep dysfunctions.
Further, in what loneliness expert John Cacioppo, a
social neuroscientist at the University of Chicago,
described as "slowly unfolding pathophysiological
processes," his research demonstrated that people who
are lonely are more likely to:11
- Be depressed
- Suffer from alcoholism
- Report higher levels of perceived stress
- Have fewer positive social interactions
If You’re Lonely, Here Are Tips to Overcome It
If your “alone time” is not chosen solitude but
rather a feeling of loneliness, I recommend trying to
build more social relationships by:
- Exploring new hobbies and interests that
ignite your natural curiosity and passions.
Deep friendships naturally form among people with
similar interests.
- Volunteering or joining a club or
organization in your area. Book clubs,
adult sports leagues, holistic moms groups, even
food coops can all lead to new relationships.
- Making an effort to re-establish old
relationships and cultivate new ones. This
could be with family you’ve lost touch with, friends
from college, or a new neighbor across the street.
The Internet is also an increasingly popular way to
meet new people.
- Adopting a companion pet. A dog
or cat can provide unconditional love and comfort,
and studies show that owning a pet can help protect
against loneliness, depression, and anxiety. In
fact, dogs are often brought to nursing homes,
hospice settings, and hospitals for this very
reason.
Meditation May Help You Enjoy Your Alone Time
For some people, the thought of completely
disconnecting and being alone is a terrifying thought.
In fact, when faced with a decision to sit alone in a
room for up to 15 minutes or self-administer electric
shocks… many chose to receive the shocks. According to
the study:12
“In 11 studies, we found that participants
typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in
a room by themselves with nothing to do but think,
that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities
much more, and that many preferred to administer
electric shocks to themselves instead of being left
alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to
prefer to be doing something rather than nothing,
even if that something is negative.”
The reason for this is likely because your mind, when
left with no distractions, may start to race, focus on
negative thoughts, or re-live past unpleasant
experiences. This is where
meditation and positive thinking can be invaluable.
The researchers continued:
“Research has shown that minds are difficult
to control… and it may be particularly hard to steer
our thoughts in pleasant directions and keep them
there. This may be why many people seek to gain
better control of their thoughts with meditation and
other techniques, with clear benefits. Without such
training, people prefer doing to thinking, even if
what they are doing is so unpleasant that they would
normally pay to avoid it. The untutored mind does
not like to be alone with itself.”
How to Be Alone
If alone time isn’t a regular part of your day, you
may wonder how you can carve out this time… and what,
exactly, to do with it. You can use it for whatever you
want… exercising, reading, writing, doing hobbies,
meditating… anything that gives you joy and a respite
from the daily grind. If you’re feeling uncertain about
venturing out into the world alone, watch the
video above for inspiration. If finding the time
to be alone is the more pressing question, here are
some simple tips:13
- Turn off distractions. Your
phone, email, and TV can all interrupt your alone
time.
- Get up early. An extra half
hour or hour in the morning can provide a quiet time
for you to invest in yourself.
- Close your door. If you work in
an office, close your door, and if necessary, add a
sign to it indicating you don’t want to be
disturbed.
- Use your lunch hour. Take your
lunch outside and eat it on a park bench or go for a
solo walk.
- Schedule it. Whether it’s 15
minutes before bed or an entire day once a month,
schedule alone time into your calendar so you’ll
always have time for valuable solitude.
© Copyright 1997-2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights
Reserved.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/06/04/alone-time.aspx
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