Episode 198 - Have You Played Today?

Play is Serious Business!

Welcome back for season 5 of the podcast! I am thrilled to be back and ready to dive into some amazing conversations with guests who will surprise, challenge and delight you.

Have you made time to play lately?

Is playtime something that only happens on weekends and even then it's a rare event?  When you actually do make time for fun does it feel selfish or self indulgent? If so, you're not alone.

I've been on a mission this summer to incorporate more playfulness into my life on a daily basis.  Sometimes that means I head to the beach to skate in the mornings, sometimes it simply means getting up from my desk to take a dance break in the middle of the day. I believe it's important for my health and well being.  I also think it's making a difference in how I handle stress. 

 In this episode and throughout the season of the podcast I'll be talking about why play isn’t just for kids—it’s a powerful tool for stress relief, staying sharp and feeling good as we age.

I've been inspired by the work of Dr. Stuart Brown who founded the National Institute for Play and wrote the book, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul.

This season we will also explore and shine a light on how internalized ageism can hold us back and I'll talk about why I believe embracing a playful mindset could be the key to aging with more joy and less stress. 

When I haven't been skating or dancing, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we internalize ageist beliefs without even realizing it. I finally read Dr. Becca Levy’s book Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live, and it blew my mind. It’s all about how negative stereotypes about aging can actually shape how we feel and even affect our health.

According to the research of Dr. Levy improving your age beliefs can extend your life expectancy by as much as 7.5 years! 

“In study after study I conducted, I found that older people with more-positive perceptions of aging performed better physically and cognitively than those with more-negative perceptions; they were more likely to recover from severe disability, they remembered better, they walked faster, and they even lived longer.”
― Becca Levy

This summer, I've also been reading books by Joe Dispenza and have been amazed at the research he's done around the mind body connection.  These books have been instrumental to my thought process. 

You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter

Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon

*When you purchase any of these books through the links on this page I earn a small commission.