6 Reasons To Daydream

Hello, Psych2goers!! Do you like daydreaming? If you do, this article is going to explore the potential benefits of daydreaming. Stay tuned! Disclaimer: The experience varies from person to person. Don’t worry if the points don’t totally fit you.

1. Helps with creativity

The act of daydreaming is associated with creativity. Some scholars suggested that daydreaming is a process of creative exploration and expression. Because we’re combining visual representations in our heads, it can generate new and creative ideas. Not only that, if we daydream while encountering obstacles in our lives, we may also come up with a creative solution (Zedelius & Schooler, 2016).

2. Relieves our mind

When we’re constantly working and stressed, we don’t tend to perform the best. In past studies, taking a break or doing something else that’s not related to the problem we’re facing, can produce more unique ideas as we revisit the issue. This process is also called incubation (Zedelius & Schooler, 2016).

3. Improves our mood

The article also includes how daydreaming can impact both positive and negative moods as well. For positive, it generally boosts creativity. However, for negative, the act of daydreaming may allow the person to shift their moods if they imagine something positive or extremely interesting (Zedelius & Schooler, 2016).

4. Provides satisfaction

Another study examined how people who enjoy the fictional genre may benefit from daydreaming when they fantasize about the characters. When participants are in a non-judged situation, they expressed a positive relationship between daydreaming and life satisfaction. For the non-judgemental mindset, the participants don’t just limit their daydream among fictional content, but include this activity in their lives as well, such as making a decision (Sugiura & Sugiura, 2019).

5. Sets our goals

As we daydream, we may predict how life or surrounding will look like in the future. For instance, picturing certain achievements we may possibly accomplish. Because of daydreaming, we may get more motivation and commitments to get to our goals (Poerio & Smallwood, 2016).

6. Strengthens relationships

How? You may ask. If people have an adequate amount of daydreaming, they may foresee the outcome of their relationship after they do something, such as taking a different perspective of their partner or using past experiences to predict their partner’s reaction or emotion (Poerio & Smallwood, 2016).

Conclusion

Are there any points that you relate to? If so, what are they? Please let us know in the comments!

References

Poerio, G. L., & Smallwood, J. (2016). Daydreaming to navigate the social world: What we know, what we don’t know, and why it matters. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(11), 605–618. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12288

Sugiura, Y., & Sugiura, T. (2019). Relation Between Daydreaming and Well-Being: Moderating Effects of Otaku Contents and Mindfulness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1-25.

Zedelius, C. M., & Schooler, J. W. (2016). The Richness of Inner Experience: Relating Styles of Daydreaming to Creative Processes. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 2063. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02063