From the RMIT University press release:<\/p>\n
\nNew research shows people who pursue meaningful activities<\/strong> — things they enjoy doing — during lockdown feel more satisfied than those who simply keep themselves busy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nThe study, published in\u00a0PLOS ONE<\/em><\/strong>, shows you’re better off doing what you love and adapting it to suit social distancing<\/strong>, like swapping your regular morning walk with friends for a zoom exercise session.<\/p>\n
Simply increasing your level of activity by doing mindless busywork will leave you unsettled and unsatisfied.<\/p>\n
Co-lead researcher Dr Lauren Saling from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia said while novelty lockdown activities — like baking or painting — have their place, trying to continue what you enjoyed before lockdown can be more rewarding<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“Busyness might be distracting but it won’t necessarily be fulfilling,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Rather, think about what activities you miss most and try and find a way of doing them.”<\/p>\n
Survey participants rated their level of wellbeing as it was during social distancing and retrospectively one month beforehand.<\/p>\n
They also indicated how much time they spent engaged in various activities and nominated how important each activity was for them.<\/p>\n
Although participants reported feeling more positive emotions while doing novelty ‘meaningless’ activities like binge watching TV, they also felt more negative emotions — they felt unhappy just as much as they felt happy.<\/p>\n
But when substituting activities enjoyed before lockdown — like dining with friends — for a virtual alternative, their positive and negative emotions were more subdued.<\/p>\n
Saling said busyness riles you up, prompting you to change your behaviour<\/strong>, but meaningful activity — doing what you enjoy — calms you down<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“Extreme emotions are not necessarily a good thing,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Emotions are a mechanism to make you change your behaviour.<\/p>\n
“But when you’re doing what you love, it makes sense that you feel more balanced — simply keeping busy isn’t satisfying.”<\/p>\n
Saling said the study challenged assumptions that we are either happy or sad and that we can stave off sadness by keeping busy.<\/p>\n
Rather, those who kept busy with mindless tasks felt more frustrated and even when they were happy felt less fulfilled.<\/p>\n
“The study showed positive and negative affect worked together, not as opposites,” Saling said.<\/p>\n
“Respondents who simply stayed busy during lockdown reported an increase in both positive and negative emotions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“This heightened emotionality will tend to shift you away from activity in general and towards meaningful activity<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n
The study also found the biggest change in positive emotions before and during lockdown was experienced by people aged under 40.<\/p>\n
Saling said this was likely because it was harder for that age group to successfully substitute meaningful activities into a lockdown context.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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