The Benefits of Boredom and Why It Is Good for Your Health

I’m not sure whether the satisfying summers of my youth were borne of boredom or just plain unstructured, but they were glorious. Lots of Gen X-ers would say the same. We were the latchkey kids, which meant we had to figure out fun on our own, and pixelated Atari video games were as far as digital leisure went.

Turns out boredom and lack of structure go hand-in-hand. This shouldn’t surprise — yet it’s also true that structure can cause boredom: Doing the same thing over and over, structure’s ultimate handmaiden, can be really boring.

That makes boredom kinda confusing.

What is boredom?

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bona fide definition, anywhere, that casts boredom in a glowing light. It apparently means you’re weary or restless or aren’t interested in anything. It can be chronic or happen from time to time.

The American Psychological Association makes boredom sound like The End, describing boredom as “one of the least desirable conditions of daily life” and apt to make you feel “depressed.”

Maybe that’s the point. Discomfort is a sharp agent for change.

How to make boredom work for you

Here’s how to find the bright side of boredom and why you should:

1. Accept boredom

Berating yourself for being bored doesn’t help. Neither does resisting boredom by mindlessly filling your time with things you don’t want to do just so you won’t “be bored.”

2. Understand your boredom

Take a moment to consider your own definition of boredom, and then outline when and why you feel it.

Is it a daily thing, or does it happen now and again? Do certain circumstances bring it on? Addressing all permutations of boredom is beyond the scope of this post, but if you understand the conditions that generate your own state of being bored, you’ll know how to best apply the suggestions that follow.

3. Be bored… then see what arises

I can offer a laundry list of things to do that’ll fill your boredom gap, but that’s not as helpful as you sitting with your own boredom for a bit. You might find the nothingness revelatory, peaceful even. You also might find inclinations percolate to the fore.

And if they don’t …

4. Try something new (or that you haven’t done in a while or have put off)

Just pick something and do it. Even if you hate it, you’re poking your brain, and that’s going to shake things loose in a good way. It also can lead you to something else.

You can do something as simple as read — and maybe what you read will spark inspiration or hit on something you want to try.

5. Go outdoors

Being in nature makes humans feel good. What’s more, going outside means you can engage in soft fascination.

You also might bump into a neighbor or someone new to chat with. You never know what’ll be outside, but you probably know exactly what’s inside given indoor environments are more controlled. Boring.

6. Mix it up

If you really quiver at being bored, build variety into your life, so you head off boredom at the pass. Schedule something new — or newish — to do from time to time. For example, if you run, do it somewhere you haven’t before: Beach? Park? If you cook, improvise or follow a new recipe. You can even just try a new restaurant, minimal effort involved.

The upsides of being bored

1. Boredom gives you a break or signals that you need one

Just like an engine can’t constantly run without wearing out, you can’t always be doing (or doing the same thing) without wearing out. You need a break. Being bored forces that break, so you can find balance.

2. Boredom cultivates self-knowledge

While you sit with your boredom, you’ll likely learn a thing or two about yourself. For instance, do you hate being bored, and if so why? (Have you been inculcated with a need for productivity? Are you afraid of being still for fear of what might rise in your mind?)

3. Boredom might spur creativity

The scientific jury is out on whether boredom cultivates creativity. But one thing’s for sure: If you’re bored, you’ve got to come up with something to do if you don’t want to keep being bored, and that requires some level of creativity.

4. Boredom helps you find solutions

You know how when you shower at the end of the day you come up with the answer to that thing you were trying to figure out all day? That’s because you shower on auto-pilot, which means you’re essentially bored while showering. In turn, your mind pauses then wanders, and that helps you find answers.

5. Boredom expands your scope of experience

If you do something new in order to counter being bored, you’re … doing something new. That means you move through life with a broader range of options and a richer takeaway.

6. Boredom helps children grow

Structure is good for children. It gives them discipline and keeps them on track. But kids also need to be bored so that they can learn how to be enterprising.

7. Boredom is fun

Boredom in and of itself isn’t fun, at least if you go by what experts say. But it can lead you to fun because you try stuff. And if you don’t want to exert much effort to overcome boredom, just lie around and daydream. Daydreaming, by definition, is fun.