We are born to play

TL;DR: Though it may seem frivolous, play is actually essential to survival. For this reason, it’s hard-wired into our brains at birth. Not only does play help us learn how to survive, it also brings us happiness.?

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Editor’s Note: Welcome to the 2nd edition of Play Well, a weekly newsletter that explores the connection between play and mental health. I'm learning as I go. In this edition, I'm excited to share with you what I've learned about the neuroscience of play.?

Every kid wants to play

Play brings happiness. Exhibit A is that pic above of 4 year-old me cracking up in a biiiiig way with my younger brother Brett on the backyard swingset.

The photo captures a universal truth. Every little kid just wants to play. All day, if you let ’em. I’m sure it was the same for you as it was for me.?

The reason is obvious, right? Kids play because it’s fun.?

Survive and advance

Well it turns out there’s an even deeper reason that kids want to play all the time: play is essential to survival. I’m not exaggerating ????. We know it’s essential to survival because play is hard-wired into our brain circuitry at birth. We are born to play.?

Here’s what the science says. Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp identified play as one of 7 ‘primal emotions’ that govern our behavior from the day we’re born. All mammals possess these 7 primal emotions.?

In the case of play, evolution has shaped it into what Panksepp categorizes as a ‘rewarding’ emotion. It makes us feel good, so we seek more of it. In Pankespp’s formula, the primal emotion of Play creates the feeling of Joy. In other words, play brings happiness.?

Highly evolved

You’d be right to ask, OK, but what then is the evolutionary advantage of play? Play is a key way that mammals develop the emotional, social, physical and mental skills to survive. Psychology researcher Peter Gray highlights four evolutionary functions of play in children:

• Practicing important real world skills, like ‘cooking’ with a toy kitchen set;?
• Learning to deal with risk, like with play fighting
• Spurring innovation, like arranging pots and pans into a drum kit?
• Forging cooperation, like building a block tower with another child??

Play is essential to survival at an even more fundamental level. In early childhood, play helps create the wiring of our cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain that does our thinking and feeling. The more that kids play, the more neurons connect in the cerebral cortex. The number and strength of these connections “determine how emotionally stable we’ll be and how easily we’ll learn.”

Play doesn’t stop being valuable after early childhood. Far from it. Play is as essential all throughout our life as it is in infancy. Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman notes that at any age “play is the most powerful portal to neuroplasticity,” which is the brain’s ability to adapt and change. Research shows that the animals who play the longest through their lifespan have the greatest degree of neuroplasticity. Particularly effective at building neuroplasticity is “low-stakes play,” where you’re not so wrapped up in the outcome that you become stressed about it.?

Remember to play

Hopefully you agree that we’re born to play. As adults, what can we do with this insight? For many of us, it might seem like we forgot how to play. But that’s not neurologically possible. Play is hard-wired into our brains from birth. So it can’t be that we forgot how to play. We simply forgot to play.?

It’s time to remember to play. The science shows that our survival depends on it. And maybe it’s not too much of a stretch to say our happiness depends on it too.?