The Secret to a Long and Healthy Life? FUN!

When was the last time you had fun? When you laughed side-splitting laughter? Stood in awe of a great vista? Had the kind of experiences that become rocking-chair memories? You know, the kind of memories you’ll recall one day in the far future to your loved ones rocking back and forth on your porch. Fun isn’t just for kids, and it’s not just something we should be doing every now and again. Fun can be a secret to living a healthier life, if we know how to welcome it into our lives much more often.

It turns out that the recipe for creating fun—even as adults—is pretty simple. It doesn’t require big expenses, reaching retirement, or having unlimited free time. True fun is the alchemy of three key factors that, if we make them a priority, we can experience almost daily.

A new definition of fun

First, we have to have a common definition of fun. And for that we turn to Catherine Price, award-winning writer and author of The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again. In her incredible TED talk—which we’ll share with you in a second—she defines fun as a feeling, not an activity. So though we may say skiing is fun, cooking is fun, or badminton is fun, true fun really comes from a feeling, a feeling that Price says “produces this visceral sense of lightness and joy.” ¹

A visceral sense of lightness and joy can seem like a daunting feeling to conjure. But, as Catherine Price explains, it’s really made up of three relatively simple elements: playfulness, connection, and flow.

Why Fun?

Before we dive deeper into those three elements of what makes something fun, let’s talk a little bit about why we need fun in our lives.

There are now numerous studies looking at factors that contribute to longevity, and it appears that one of those factors is enjoying life. One study out of England found that of the 9000 adults in their 60s they studied, those that reported the most frequent experiences of enjoying life had a death rate that was 24% lower than others in the study. ²

Many other studies have looked into the way our social lives—that contributing factor to fun connection—impacts our longevity. One meta-analysis found that people who have healthy and supportive relationships live longer. Over the course of these studies—which averaged 7 years in length—the participants who had strong social networks were 45% less likely to die. ³

In addition, a study out of the University of California found that “When people engage in leisure activity, they have lower stress levels, better mood, a lower heart rate and more psychological engagement.” ⁴

This reduction in stress in the short term has long term benefits, with continual engagement in leisure activities people reduce the biological impact that stress has on us—raising blood pressure, heart rate, and hormones. Preventing an overworked state for our bodies means less of that stress load builds up in our bodies and even in our minds. Issues like rumination can be damaging to our health as well, and it appears that engaging in activities we enjoy can break that thought cycle and help us recharge to deal with stress. ⁵

If you’re in need of more reasons to have fun, I can assure you that these are just some of the many studies that are out there that are looking into the factors that contribute to longer, healthier lives, and many of them tie back into those three elements of true fun: playfulness, connection, and flow.

Finding Fun.

Catherine Price became an expert on fun after interviewing thousands of people to find stories of fun from around the world. From these memories, fun emerged as the center of the venn diagram of playfulness, connection, and flow. So, let’s break down the three elements of true fun a little further. 

Playfulness. 

Playfulness involves having a lighthearted attitude about doing things. Doing things just for the sake of doing them, letting go of perfectionism and an attachment to the outcome. As Catherine Price says “When we have fun, our guard is down, and we’re not taking ourselves too seriously.” ⁶

Connection.

Whether an introvert or extrovert, connection is still a part of the alchemy of true fun. Connection is a feeling of having a special, shared experience with others or—in some cases—connection to yourself and your surroundings. And while Price says that it is possible to have fun alone, the majority of stories she hears from people about their peak fun memories involve a sense of connectedness with others.

Flow. 

Flow is something you may have heard of before, but flow refers to getting so into something so deeply you lose track of time. People often use flow to talk about when athletes or musicians are in the middle of a performance completely in the zone. I personally find flow in a day in the garden getting things planted, or on a bike ride through new places. When I’m in flow I have no desire to pick up my phone, or check my watch, I am 100% in the present moment. 

So if having fun is at the overlap of these three elements how do we welcome them into our lives more often? How do we start to feel the health and wellness benefits that having fun again can bring to our lives?

That’s where we’ll move to the TED stage and Catherine Price’s remarkable talk to understand these concepts and how they come together in more depth.

If you want to hear from more incredible thought leaders, go check out the TED website. There you’ll find a full library of talks on subjects ranging from science, to personal growth, to projects changing the world.

If you want to check out more of Catherine Price’s work you can head over to her website for some great resources like her Break Up with Your Phone Toolkit and her Fun Toolkit that will get you started. You can also check out her two books, How to Break Up With Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life and The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore. 

Making fun a priority

As Catherine pointed out, the most effective thing we can do to encourage fun in our lives is to focus on the elements of fun. So if we want to get into a state of flow more often, we want to work on reducing distractions—for most of us, that’s our phone.

To increase connection, we need to interact with people in real-life, making eye contact, saying hello, asking questions that are a little out of the ordinary like “What’s something that fascinates you?” or “What’s one thing that delighted you today?”

As for play, a good way to make things more playful is to find ways to do things outside of your normal routine.One of the easiest ways to do this is finding ways to rebel—within reason—against the rigid norms set by society or by ourselves. That means doing something just for the sake of it, and trying not to focus at all on the outcome. Head out on a walk and follow what gets you curious. Take a mini-road trip in your area for the day and follow the roads that pique your curiosity. (Side note: I’ve found that following my curiosity has been a HUGE help in increasing my own sense of playfulness, connection, and flow, so if you need a starting place for any of these, just follow what gets you curious!)

In our increasingly busy lives we have to make sure that we make time for fun. And, while part of having fun is that you can’t plan it, setting aside intentional fun time can start to flex those fun muscles if you need a place to get started. Since running into this TED talk several months ago, I have made sure that my partner and I prioritize fun at least every other weekend. For us, that looks like biking, canoeing, or hiking in new places together or with old friends. 

I’ve found that most of these adventures have some element that didn’t go perfectly to plan, and that those moments, when looking back, become the fun highlights of the day. So, even though we planned for fun, what actually became the fun was far different than was expected.

So, how will you start to introduce a little more fun into your life? If you need a little inspiration here are a few of my favorite articles that have sparked fun:

Stay beautiful & keep laughing!

-Liesl