If any of you are anything like me, you always have to be doing something. I can never sit still. If I’m in my room I’m on my phone, if I’m in class I’m taking apart a pen, then putting it back together. In between sets at the gym I’m checking Twitter or Snapchat. I have to be doing something, looking at something, playing with something. Boredom is not in my vocabulary because I’m always going, always thinking, always doing. This may seem like a good thing, but as soon as things start to stack up and I have a lot on my plate, my brain scrambles and I struggle to actually accomplish what I need to do.

Realizing this, I wanted to find out what exactly boredom was. I wanted to find a scientific description of what is happening in the brain when we are bored. Upon doing research, I found a Canadian study that did just that. They defined boredom as “an aversive state of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity”, or in other words, you’ve lost your attention to something. The head researcher in this study, John Eastwood, is a professor at York University. What struck me in their report was something Guelph psychology professor Mark Fenske said, “It’s an amazingly under-studied area given how universal the experience is,” which he is right, it’s pretty safe to say we’ve all experienced boredom, but none of us know exactly what it is.

Now that I had a definition for boredom, I decided I wanted to know what was physically happening when I get bored. What was going on in my brain to cause me to lose interest?

Once I looked in depth at what boredom was, I found that boredom comes from a lack of dopamine, the “reward hormone” in the brain. Releases of dopamine are what happen when our brains are stimulated, it’s that feeling you get when Penn State wins. It feels good. Also, scientists find that when bored, the brain has up to a 5% drop in overall activity, but higher activity in the “imagination” area of the brain. Also, I found that people with “chronic boredom”, if that is even a possible diagnosis, could have a lack of dopamine receptors in their brain, causing them to need more dopamine to get them going, so to speak.

Now, we all know boredom sucks, but can it be good for you?

Despite what you may think, many studies show that it is good for you. In 2013, Psychologists at the University of Central Lancashire had participants copy numbers out of a telephone book for 15 minutes and then think of as many uses as possible for a Styrofoam cup, another group do a boring reading activity and then think of uses, and a control group just go straight to think of uses without copying the numbers. The first study, which didn’t have the reading group included, was done on 80 people who were randomly allocated. The results of the first study found the people who did the boring writing task were generally more creative with their uses of the Styrofoam cup. Then, 90 more people were added to the study, and the boring reading task was included. Their results showed the people who did the boring reading task were even more creative than the people who did the writing task, and those who did the writing were also more creative than the control group, again. Upon analysis of their findings, they deduced that the active act of writing might have hindered their ability to daydream, since they had to think about their writing. The passive act of reading allowed one to daydream, which they said made the imaginative part of the brain kick in, since the reading as “boring”. Although the study was only done on a maximum of 170 people, I support these findings myself. I think it is very plausible that being bored is good for your brain and your creativity.

Personally, I do believe being bored is a good thing. I often force myself to be bored, I turn off my phone and the television for a short amount of time and just allowed myself to think and be creative. I find that doing this once a day allows me to be more calm and focused. If none of these studies or information are enough for you,, try the test yourself. Force yourself to be bored for a while. Start with just five or 10 minutes. See how you feel after, maybe, just maybe, it may even improve your grade in this class.

Sources:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/uog-brs092812.php

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/17142/1/The-Psychology-of-Boredom–Why-Your-Brain-Punishes-You-for-Being-Comfortable-and-Safe.html

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10400419.2014.901073