The Importance of Fun
Without it, you get sick.
I teach people how to succeed at weight loss, and one of the important things I teach them is that having fun in your life is an absolute requirement for success in weight loss. In fact, it’s an absolute requirement for health in general.
You’ve heard “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”? It’s true, and not just dull, but sick; sick in body, mind and spirit. In fact, we know that there is a direct correlation between mood and disease and pain. Your brain and your body need the chemicals that flow when you’re having fun, for your mood, for your spirit, and for all your body functions, including your immune system and your unconscious drive to obtain what you need.
The Pleasure Principle
Sigmund Freud, M.D, one of the giants in modern psychological theories, coined the term “The Pleasure Principle” in the 1920's, intuitively concluding that the most basic part of our personality is like an innocent egoless child, discovering extreme pleasure, then pursuing that ecstasy, that fun, without restraint or limit. Living in that sublime state of consciousness was the goal of life. Of course, it wasn’t long after birth that we discovered limits.
Indulging without restraint, whether it is a hot fudge sundae or joyous sexuality, can be ecstasy, almost heaven on earth. But then, there can be a downside, unless we find a way to moderate the indulgence. We need to establish conditions and control so it does not produce destructive consequences like disease, ruined relationships and addiction.
Freud wasn’t the first to note the extreme importance of pleasure. From our earliest days of wondering about our being and purpose, philosophers have concluded that hedonism, pleasure-seeking, was central to our life. In the oldest example of civilization’s wisdom literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, we read, “Fill your belly. Day and night make merry. Let days be full of joy. Dance and make music day and night …These things alone are the concern of men.”
Greek philosophers embraced hedonism. Democritus said the supreme goal of life was “contentment” or “cheerfulness”. Of course, here, he was talking not just about physical pleasure, but emotional pleasure, contentment, happiness, satisfaction. It was not just about food and sex.
Another ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus, believed that the greatest good was to seek modest, sustainable pleasure in the form of tranquility and freedom from fear and absence of pain. Hedonism, pleasure-seeking, for him, was not simply indulging in an orgy of physical pleasure. It was the pursuit of contentment, satisfaction, peace and happiness. The Buddha, confronting the suffering that is a normal part of life, found and taught followers how to find bliss. A life free from fear and suffering, filled with life’s greatest pleasure is the hallmark of real health.
The science and psychology of pleasure and fun.
Pleasure and fun are experiences of thought and feeling, mind and emotion, a state of consciousness. But they are not just an ethereal product of physical stimulation.
We know now that certain experiences trigger a flood of chemicals in your brain that produce good feelings, degrees of euphoria (from Greek euphoros ‘borne well, healthy’, from eu ‘well’ + pherein ‘to bear’.) Some of these chemicals are the neurotransmitters that are associated with moods like elation and happiness. Some are called endorphins, meaning “morphine within” because they were discovered to act in the same way in the brain as the opiates, the pain-killing feel-good drugs that can create a feeling of euphoria (but with a terrible consequence that the natural “drugs” don’t have).
From day one, when we discovered food and the pleasure of satisfying our needs, we began flooding our brain with these chemicals that flow when we do something that feels good, just for the pleasure of it, just for the fun of it. Then we discovered other ways to pleasure ourselves, and all we wanted to do all day was play and have fun. Life was good!
Sometimes, as we grow up, life becomes hard, and we stop having fun. We may even begin to think that having fun is not OK. We start getting serious, concerned with a good work ethic and productivity instead of playing. That may be good for business, but it can cause problems. If we stop flooding our brains and bodies with those feel-good chemicals on a regular basis, we stop the natural medicine that keeps us well, body, mind and spirit. We get sick, body, mind and spirit. We need to keep doing those things that trigger the flow of the good chemicals. And we know what triggers that.
Playing, laughing, singing, dancing… these are the things that pump those well-being chemicals. Having fun is what makes them flow. Good food, playing games, making love, making merry. All of these things (and more) flood our brains and bodies with those chemicals that make us feel good, that produce health. You’ll know it’s happening when you’re having fun. And you need it. Without fun, we not only become dull, we get sick.
Put fun things on your “to do” list, and reduce the things that feel like punishment and pain.
Some of us were brought up in cultures that frowned on having fun. It was childish and a waste of time. Grown-ups worked! You suffered! We were taught that that was the right and noble way to be.
For me, dieting was an example of the suffering that was necessary. You had to give up enjoyment to lose weight, I was told. But it didn’t work. It made me a miserable 300+ pounder. But thank God, I found what worked. The solution to permanent weight loss lies in enhancing the joy, not denying it. I found a way to live that’s more satisfying than what I did when I was an overweight overeater.
There is suffering in life, but the way to a good life is not in letting it be endless suffering. For a good life, we need to find a way out of that, to find our bliss, our happiness.
I don’t want to give the impression that one should avoid difficulty or doing things that are hard. Learning how to achieve and maintain a healthy weight is work. But working at something you love doing can seem almost like fun.
We need fun. We need en-joyment. We need to be pumping joy in to our lives.
Don’t forget to have some fun every day, every weekend, and several big times a year. Don’t let your life fall into joylessness. All work and no play make us dull and sick. Make it your business to have fun on a regular basis. It’s really important.
William Anderson is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, the author of “The Anderson Method of Permanent Weight Loss” (paperback and Kindle at Amazon, audiobook at Audible). He was obese until his early thirties when he developed the solution. He lost 140 pounds, has kept it off for 35 years, and has taught thousands how to solve their weight problem.
