5 Positive Effects of Daydreaming

You might remember daydreaming during class when you were growing
up. Maybe you looked out the window and dreamed, but your teachers
discouraged it. You weren’t being disobedient when your thoughts escaped
elsewhere. We all daydream and more often than you might expect. Scientists
agree that we spend an astonishing 30% - 50% of our time in daydreams.1
So, what is daydreaming? Daydreaming can be defined as the reverie you
experience while you’re awake. During moments when we are in this state, our
mind drifts. These interludes are brief diversions from our current world.
Contrary to what you may have been taught, daydreaming about pleasant things
is far from useless.
Daydreaming Lessens Stress and Anxiety
By tuning out the noisy “outside” world, you allow your thoughts to flow
freely. This fosters mental relaxation and exploration. When our thoughts flow
like this, we are in what is called the alpha wave state. When we are in the alpha
zone, we are calm and not thinking of anything with forced vigor.2

Daydreaming breaks are not just fun; they are necessary for us. Our brains
cannot maintain focus and productivity nonstop. Good brain health requires
some regular periods of relaxation.

After a long day at work or after a disagreement with a friend, let your
mind float away to something completely unrelated and pleasurable. This might
help you forget about and distance yourself from the worrisome circumstances.

Having a tool like daydreaming at our disposal is useful especially when

we deal with perceived threats or overly busy environments. It’s another tool in
your mental health toolkit to evade stress and anxiety. If you feel yourself
getting more and more anxious, you might turn to daydreaming and the
following steps:

The first step is to look away from your desk, your work, or any
distractions.
Next, breathe in deeply. Then breathe out slowly. Repeat.
Lastly, think of something pleasant that has meaning to you.
You might imagine yourself at your favorite spot where you like to hike in
the woods. Or you might think about that new car you’d like to buy. What color
would it be? What features would it have? Can you imagine yourself feeling
great in the driver’s seat?
 According to Harvard University’s Medical School health blog, “Mind
wandering can help manage anxiety.” Like meditation or restful activities,
daydreaming acts a natural remedy to alleviate stress and anxiety.

Daydreaming Helps You Solve Problems

Daydreams aren’t merely mini-escapes. Allowing your stray thoughts to
roam around revitalizes you. You’ll be able to return to the problem more
refreshed. Most of us can benefit from approaching our problems with a fresh
perspective.

Besides having a fresh perspective, daydreaming seems to work better than

trying to force a solution. In one study which tracked different patterns of
internal thought, researchers concluded that mind-wandering is important and
good for us.2 It seems that this cognitive process leads to new ideas.

While on the surface it might sound unusual, letting our thoughts drift can
actually help us solve problems when focusing on them does not work.

By just hammering away at something steadfastly, you may be overlooking

all sorts of information. But freely associating can enable your mind to flit from
memories to something you read and then back to something you imagine.

In other words, daydreaming can lead you down a sort of magical yellow
brick road to insights. These insights may help you reach your goal. So, if
you’re stumped by a problem, instead of trying harder to solve it, try the
opposite. Daydream and then daydream even more.

Daydreaming Uses Diverse Parts of Your Brain

If you’ve ever noticed, children’s minds wander about constantly. It’s no
secret that the young are daydreaming a lot. Yet, having your "head in the
clouds," as some people describe daydreaming, turns out to be more than a
simple or diversionary pastime.

What’s happening in your brain while daydreaming is pretty sophisticated.

As your mind wanders, you are you are using diverse aspects of your brain. Both
the executive problem-solving network as well as the creativity network in your
brain are working simultaneously.2

As we activate these different brain areas, we access information that might

have previously been out of reach or dormant. Therefore, boredom or idleness
serves a great purpose. It inspires us to daydream, which forges important
connections across our brain.
 Daydreaming Helps You Reach Goals
How can meandering thoughts help you reach your goals? These stray
thoughts are indeed unguided, but new research reveals they are often motivated
by our goals.3

Athletes and performers sometimes use purposeful daydreaming to practice

before a game or performance. This method pre-wires their brains for success.
It’s like practicing mentally rather than physically for an outcome you desire.
This kind of imagining or structured daydreaming has been popular in the field
of sports psychology.4

While a fantasy-based daydream like morphing into a superhero might end

up disappointing or frustrating you because it’s too far-fetched, a structured
daydream can motivate you as it’s realistic.

Imagining or daydreaming about one of your real-life goals is pleasing. It

invites you to think through steps you’d take, ways to stay motivated, and how to
overcome obstacles.

Daydreaming Expands Your Creativity

Research has established that daydreaming is correlated with higher levels
of creativity.3 Relentlessly drilling down on a complex problem doesn’t result in
discoveries. Take a break. The mind will still incubate on the problem.

Bianca L. Rodriguez, Ed.M, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist says,

“That's why most of us have aha moments while doing mundane things like
washing the dishes where we don't have to focus too hard on the task at hand
which allows space in our psyche to receive and reveal new information.”

One study in which college students had 2 minutes to come up with as

many uses as possible for everyday things (like toothpicks and bricks) proved
this. Those who daydreamed first, rather than continuing to focus on the
problem, did better at generating more creative ideas. Not by a small margin,
either. They were 41% more productive and creative.5

When your mind doesn’t have to ride on a narrow track, it reorganizes all
the tidbits of information and forms new and unexpected connections. Being
distracted and allowing your mind to wander is powerfully positive.

Rodriguez described daydreaming well when she said it’s “exercise for
your mind.” She elaborated further, saying, “We are rarely taught to allow our
minds to wander. It's like only tending to one tree in a gigantic forest.
Daydreaming allows your mind to zoom out and see the whole forest which
creates a different perspective and invites creativity.”

A Word From Verywell

Daydreaming has gotten a bad rap for far too long. Yet, it affords us
humans many benefits. Hopefully, more will be open to embracing the
daydreaming process and letting our thoughts roam freely. If you are frustrated
by a situation, problem, or simply want to expand your imagination or creativity,
give daydreaming a try and see what mental pathways might open up for you.