Three ways boredom can actually be a benefit

Boredom is something many of us will do everything we can to avoid. We fill our time with social media, books and TV programmes and keeping our schedules packed with plans.

But boredom doesn’t always need to be seen as something negative. Boredom may, in fact, be good for you – but only if you effectively tap into its full potential.

1. It can push you towards positive change

Boredom tends to arise when we want to be mentally engaged but our current activity or environment isn’t providing the level of challenge, stimulation or meaning we need. This can leave us feeling restless – especially if we don’t know how to remedy the situation.

It’s for this reason that boredom can be used to push ourselves towards change and encourage exploration.

But in order to make boredom really work for you, it’s vital to avoid just reaching for the next easy distraction, like scrolling on your phone, online shopping or visiting the pantry for a snack.

Positive change comes not from asking “how do I stop feeling like this?” but asking yourself “what meaningful thing do I need next?” Focusing on doing something meaningful is key to making boredom a bridge to more productive or positive activities.

While determining what’s meaningful will differ for each of us, as a general guide meaningful activities require a bit of effort while still being doable and making us feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves.

So if you’re someone who enjoys exercise or being in nature, going for a hike is one meaningful way of quelling the boredom.

Or if you prefer creating things or doing crafts, the act of making something can be an opportunity to immerse yourself, which can improve wellbeing.

Sometimes boredom also indicates we need to get out of the house and see friends or family. Connecting with another person can provide meaning, responsiveness and a sense of belonging that doing something alone cannot.

2. It can improve problem solving and creativity

Ever taken a shower and found you’ve come up with a really great idea, or solved a problem that’s been bothering you? This it called the “shower effect” – and the reason it happens has to do with boredom.

The shower gives us a perfect, low-demand environment so our minds can wander. This lets the mind move into a state of “productive mind-wandering”, where attention can drift from the task at hand and thoughts can wander loosely.

When we let our mind wander, the process generates spontaneous thoughts that are random or only tangentially related to the immediate present. But these spontaneous thoughts often become productive ones – such as coming up with novel ideas, making new associations between previously encountered materials, solving problems we’ve been grappling with, consolidating goals or memories and boosting our creativity.

To make the most of mind-wandering’s problem solving capacity, and avoid it turning into a spiral of worry and rumination, preload your mind with good ingredients. If you know you’re going to have a block of time during your day where boredom may arise, engage your mind in advance with an analytical problem, creative project or prompt.

This primes your thinking with lots of stimulating material. That way, when you do let your mind wander, you can get creative and do something positive with your boredom.

3. It can improve memory and learning

Boredom may be unpleasant – but it can be useful in supporting our ability to build memories and retain important information.

Allowing our minds to go “offline” (also known as “wakeful rest”) provides an important buffer to help integrate and consolidate new information. Pausing and doing nothing, staring into space and doodling are all examples of wakeful rest.

New memories do not leap fully formed into our long term storage. Instead, after a novel experience or learning something new, the trace memory must be stabilised and integrated through a process called memory consolidation. Taking some time out of consuming information and letting the brain rest helps with this process.

Even just five to ten minutes of wakeful rest a day can protect fragile new memories from competing with unimportant information. Wakeful rest is also shown to help people better remember what they’ve just learned – even when asked to recall that information a week later.

Another key aspect of wakeful rest is that when the brain gets bored, it doesn’t just switch off, it changes modes.

The brain switches from focusing on external demands and tasks and moves into internal, self-focused processing. This kind of internal processing happens best during down time – such as when we’re bored. It supports us to make meaning, work out our values and who we are.

It also helps us to reflect on our experiences and is involved in processing memories, as well. Including a little wakeful rest in study time or when doing a new activity will not only support you in remembering what you learned, but it will also help you stay focused on who you are and what’s most important to you.

How to be bored

So how can we learn to tolerate boredom? By accepting it as a normal experience – rather than something negative.

You also don’t have to abandon technology entirely to better tap into your boredom – though it will help. Cutting back on the amount of rapid switching between videos, apps and social media platforms may help to improve attention, satisfaction and meaning.

If you manage to reduce switching, the next step is to practice staying with one ordinary experience, such as focusing on your breath. The more you can stay engaged in the present, the better you’ll be able to tolerate boredom.

Leaving space to do nothing and let a little boredom in is good for us – just be sure to make the most of these moments.