Play: Essential For Mental Health

Playing is a distinctive behavioral pattern in almost all animals. Dogs, for example, are tireless players. No matter how old a dog is, you can always suggest a game that he is willing to accept. Unfortunately, the same is not the case with human beings.

In human beings, in some way, it seems a pattern relegated to childhood or encapsulated in certain spaces. Most adults bury the game under a long list of obligations. On the other hand, in many cases we become more spectators than players. That is why televised competitions and reality shows have a good audience among adults.

Actually, taking the game out of our lives is a big mistake. The anthropologist J. Huizinga coined the expression Homo ludens to imply that play is an essential part of our constitution as human beings. Although it is true that it is not such a spontaneous and permanent activity as in children, it does constitute good insurance for our mental health.

Play, a need that does not go away

Although we do not notice it, within us there is always a self that wants to play. That is, you want to do fun and useless activities, motivated only by the pleasure of doing them. In adult life, play continues to have the same benefits as in children. That is, it helps us to socialize, learn and better face reality.

A good portion of young adults, between the ages of 25 and 35, choose video games as their option for fun. In fact, this is the segment of the population that most frequently attends this type of entertainment, above adolescents. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is limiting, since in general these are experiences that are usually lived alone. More than having fun, they entertain us. They help us “pass the time.”

For other adults, watching soccer games or game shows on television helps satisfy their need for the game. Others, at times, turn the game into an obsession and enter the field of gambling. It is a distortion, or perversion, of the act of playing. The satisfaction that can be derived from this is opposed by an even greater dose of suffering.

Freedom and obligations

Many adults think that playing is a waste of time. They believe that adult life should be subject to “serious” activities, associated with work and commitment. Likewise, they standardize their way of accessing recreational activities, reducing them to, generally, being spectators (of a cinema or other show, generally).

Travel has been gaining importance, precisely because it represents one of those few spaces where it is possible to play. And it is that playing is fully involved in something that does not have an immediate practical purpose. Letting new facets of your personality come out, which are not standardized. Amaze you To laugh.

If an adult gives way to gambling in his life, he can win a lot. An integral life combines commitment and freedom. In this he must make spaces to love, work, play and think. A harmonious combination of all these aspects results in good mental health.

Learn to play again

The games of adults are not the same as those of children, at least in form. We are not so attracted to spending hours and hours playing hopscotch or blindfold. What must be present is enthusiasm, joy and creativity. Somewhere in us are all those feelings and all those abilities. They are never forgotten.

All the arts, as long as they are not guided by some figurative or economic interest,  are a way of playing. Music, painting, theater, dance and all artistic disciplines are games for all ages. The best games, the ones that give us the most, are those that involve cooperation and a group. You don’t know someone well until you play with them.

Ideally, the game should take place in a warm and welcoming environment, among small, democratic groups. Mainly they should allow spontaneity, eliminating criticism and insane competition. The mind and body continually need time to play. This activity makes us grow and be better. The question is: what do you like to play?