Why playing is good for kids….and
adults!
I came
across this article from KSL.com (https://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=46191068&nid=157&title=why-adults-should-play-too)
and realized how important play is for all of us, in a world where we all need
time for our own self-care to help our own sanity:
The science behind play
The evolutionary importance of play
can be demonstrated in the brains and behaviors of rats and primates, said Dr.
Sergio Pellis, neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.
In his experiments, he denied rats
the opportunity to engage in play by fighting and wrestling.
Those rats developed deficiencies
in their brains' pre-frontal cortex. This is the area responsible for executive
functions, such as making judgment calls and emotional regulation.
"If you're an adult male rat
put in another cage of a rat you don't know, the resident rat will see you as
an intruder and beat you up," Pellis said.
If you're a normal rat, you'll find
any place to hide — a platform, perhaps — and stay there, he said.
"If you're a play-deficient
rat, you'll get beaten up and shortly thereafter move again and attract even
more attention," he said. "You're not figuring out the appropriate
thing to do in this situation."
Similar research with monkeys led
to the same results, said Pellis, co-author of "The Playful Brain:
Venturing to the Limits of Neuroscience."
While this type of experiment
cannot be replicated in juvenile humans for ethical reasons, social science
studies have shown kids who engage in more play end up with higher social
skills a few years down the line, Pellis said, predicting more research in the
next decade on adult human brains at play.