Hard Times Require Play Time

Seriously

We here at Carolina Naturally have long held to the idea that work is a necessary evil, but play is good thing.

Now comes a psychiatrist, and the author of a new book about the rewards of play, who argues that when it comes to avoiding depression, play is every bit as necessary as work.

In this interview in USA Today, Stuart Brown, author of Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul, asserts that play is particularly important during periods that are stressful, like this very moment in history.

What exactly is play?

Brown warns readers that real play is not what many people believe it is.

It is not, for example, the special round of golf at a fancy club.

Neither is it a determined effort to achieve some impressive fitness goal. Play, says Brown, is that relaxing thing you did as a kid when you wanted to have fun .The psychiatrist tells USA Today that it is no coincidence that people who stay sharp as they age are those who keep working and playing. And couples who stay together also play together, he says, especially when they have different play personalities that might lead them in different directions. He tells readers who want to hear it that sex counts big time in the world of play. "When partners try to draw each other out," he says. "they are in effect freeing themselves and relaxing."

Read more in USA Today and free yourself.