Five hours a day? Two? How much will make you happy, is it worth doing something useful at this time and is it possible to overdo it with rest and make it worse?
Your work tasks are piling up like a snowball, there is literally no time to exhale, and in the place of one completed task, five new ones immediately appear – just like the heads of a mystical monster? In such a situation, it is not surprising to experience enormous stress and dream only that you have more free time – ideally, the more the better. But it turns out that this also needs a measure.
This is the conclusion reached by the authors of two studies, in total, they studied how 35 American respondents spend their free time. They found that having this time actually makes us feel better, but only if it’s limited to two hours a day. But those who have five or more free hours at their disposal feel even worse than the rest.
Based on this information, the researchers determined that the optimal amount of free time in a day is from a spirit to three hours: “Yes, a lack of time for yourself is bad, but, as it turned out, its excess is no better.” This is especially true for people who have recently retired: the lack of work and the usual workload adversely affects their mental state.
Not how much, but how?
It is also important what we spend this free time on. In addition to analyzing the data from the studies, the scientists organized several small online experiments. As part of one of them, they asked the subjects to imagine that they have from three and a half to seven free hours a day, and how they spend this time on “useful” activities (for example, sports) and “not useful” (watching series and TV shows).
The participants of the experiment admitted that they would hardly feel happy if they spent their free time unproductively. “It would seem that you can enjoy unexpected freedom, but it seems that even in theory this does not bring people the expected pleasure,” the authors of the study comment.
Another question is that each of us is free to decide for himself what is “useful” for him and what is not. If binge-watching your favorite show makes you happy, then please don’t limit yourself. Although, most likely, you will spend less time in front of the TV or laptop than you planned. Or at least don’t spend all your free time on it.
Do not try to constantly “occupy” yourself with something – anxiety can be hidden behind this need
In addition, you can always at least try to make “useful” activities also enjoyable. For example, knowing that physical activity is beneficial, choose those forms of exercise that really give you pleasure, and combine them with listening to music, podcasts or audio books. And, of course, do not neglect the opportunity to get into the “flow” state, about which the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote a lot: it is especially often noted by those who are fond of knitting, reading or cooking.
So, if it happens that you have more free time than usual at your disposal – for example, because you are out of work, retired, or sick and forced to stay at home – try to approach the issue wisely. Spend it on activities that seem useful to you and at the same time bring pleasure.
And, of course, do not try to constantly “occupy” yourself with something – anxiety can be hidden behind this need. However, this is a completely different story.