Raise your hand if you’ve ever had that creeping Sunday evening feeling that you’ve wasted your entire weekend? I certainly have. It happens most often when I’ve treated myself to multiple lie-ins, skipped out on plans in favour of a quiet night or dawdled my time away in front of the latest season of Succession. 

But while the idea of ‘wasting’ time is something we’ve been conditioned to feel guilty about from an early age, it may not be as harmful as we think. Yes, we live in a society geared towards productivity, hacks and optimisation, but it turns out that downtime and daydreaming is actually good for us.

As a recent Instagram post by The School Of Life explained, we should actually embrace wasting more time, despite all the external signals encouraging us to hustle.

“We are encouraged to be hard on ourselves for our ‘lazy’ moods; inactivity can feel like a sin against the bustling activity of modernity,” the caption read. “But it might be that at points the real threat to learning and development lies not in our failure to be busy, but in the very opposite scenario: in our inability to be ‘lazy’ enough.”

But there’s also science behind it, too. In her TedTalk on the benefits of daydreaming, Elizabeth Cox shared that on a daily basis, we spend between a third and half of our waking hours daydreaming. 

“That may sound like a huge waste of time, but scientists think it must have some purpose, or humans wouldn’t have evolved to do so much of it,” Cox continued.

Not only has daydreaming been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, but it also helps with problem-solving and enhances creativity. It may seem counterintuitive to think less directly about a specific challenge or problem, but studies continue to indicate that letting your mind wander may be just what you need to move forward.

Just like when we get a killer idea or finally solve a problem while washing our hair in the shower, not only can embracing doing nothing help us recharge, it has also been found to provide us with a newfound sense of motivation when experienced in moderation.

The benefits don’t only extend to downtime – they’re applicable in our work lives as well. 

In a 2022 Forbes article titled Why You Should Embrace The Concept Of Wasting Time, author Peter Stewart argued that people are not equipped to work 16-hour days while maintaining high productivity and consistent quality. 

“The human brain can focus, but only for short periods. In between those focused sessions, people should be encouraged to waste a little time,” he explained. As such, while some activities feel like wasting time, they are actually quite beneficial to our work productivity, mental health and physical wellbeing.

“Exercise, reading, engaging in hobbies such as gardening or woodworking and connecting with friends and family all meet important basic needs we have as human beings,” he added. “Engaging in these activities may feel like wasting time, but they contribute to your overall health.”

So, take this as your permission slip to let yourself veg out and waste time this weekend. Your mind and body will thank you for it.

Images: Getty