Rest and Recover: The Value of Leisurely Moments

What we do during our working hours determines what we have;

what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are.

George Eastman

References

References

[1] Achor, S., & Gielan, M. (2016). Resilience is about how you recharge, not how you endure. Harvard Business Review, 24. Available at: https://hbr.org/2016/06/resilience-is-about-how-you-recharge-not-how-you-endure

[2] Knight, R. (2025). 7 habits to stay focused in a world full of distractions. Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2025/02/7-habits-to-stay-focused-in-a-world-full-of-distractions

[3] Largo-Wight, E., Wlyudka, P. S., Merten, J. W., & Cuvelier, E. A. (2017). Effectiveness and feasibility of a 10-minute employee stress intervention: Outdoor Booster Break. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 32(3), 159-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/15555240.2017.1335211

[4] Lee, K. E., Williams, K. J., Sargent, L. D., Williams, N. S., & Johnson, K. A. (2015). 40-second green roof views sustain attention: The role of micro-breaks in attention restoration. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42, 182-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.04.003

[5] Murugiah, S. (2022). Average Malaysian spends 141 days a year browsing internet – data. Available at: https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/average-malaysian-spends-141-days-year-browsing-internet

[6] Price, M., Legrand, A. C., Brier, Z. M., van Stolk-Cooke, K., Peck, K., Dodds, P. S., ... & Adams, Z. W. (2022). Doomscrolling during COVID-19: The negative association between daily social and traditional media consumption and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 14(8), 1338. https://www.doi.org/10.1037/tra0001202

[7] Stebbins, R. A. (2018). Leisure and the positive psychological states. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(1), 8-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1374444

[8] Bunea, E. (2020). “Grace under pressure”: How CEOs use serious leisure to cope with the demands of their job. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1453. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01453/full

[9] Chen, S. T., Hyun, J., Graefe, A. R., Mowen, A. J., Almeida, D. M., & Sliwinski, M. J. (2022). The influence of leisure engagement on daily emotional well-being. Leisure Sciences, 44(7), 995-1012. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1757537

[10] Hu, X., Barber, L. K., & Santuzzi, A. M. (2021). Does active leisure improve worker well-being? An experimental daily diary approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(5), 2003-2029. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00305-w

[11] Wang, M., & Wong, M. S. (2014). Happiness and leisure across countries: Evidence from international survey data. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15, 85-118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9417-z

[12] Newman, D. B., Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2014). Leisure and subjective well-being: A model of psychological mechanisms as mediating factors. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15, 555-578. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9435-x

Resilience = Recovering + Recharging

Resilience goes beyond simply recovering from setbacks. Resilient individuals work hard, but they also know when we stop, recover, and then work hard again. Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Shawn Achor and Michelle Gielan encourage us to think about how we spend our non-work hours and to consider whether our non-work activities are effectively helping us restore our energies and be more resilient [1]. Similarly, psychologist Gloria Mark, author of Attention Span suggests that we need to take time to replenish our attention reserves by taking purposeful breaks. “Give yourself permission to rest and reset,” she notes, showing from her research that the most beneficial breaks typically involve pulling away from our screens – meditating, journalling or walks are particularly effective [2].

Restorative breaks are important. These authors recommend taking breaks every 90 minutes of work, avoiding having lunch at your desk, filling in times outside of work with friends and engaging in conversations about non-work topics. Instead of mindlessly scrolling social media, which tends to deplete our attentional resources and diminish our resilience, they prompt us to reflect on the ways we spend our attention. Studies of ‘booster breaks’ – even short 10-minute breaks where individuals spend time in nature show that such breaks are effective in restoring attention and lowering stress [3]. One experimental study showed that even just 40 seconds was enough to restore one’s attention. When participants in the study were asked to take a micro-break with a view of a flowering meadow green roof, they later performed better and made fewer errors on a cognitive task than those who were exposed to a city view [4]. Nature’s restorative effects are well-documented in the scientific literature, but there are other ways to restore our attention, replenish our psychological resources, and ultimately, be more resilient.

Swapping Your Phone for Active, Serious Leisure

How much free time do you have at the end of your work week? How much of that time (and by extension, your attention) is spent optimally toward aiding your recovery from the long hours you put into your work? Precise statistics on time use among Malaysians are hard to come by, but a report by The Edge estimates that, in 2022, the average Malaysian spent 141 days a year browsing the internet. That is, on average, 9 hours and 18 minutes a day [5]. Breaking down the statistics, the report indicates that we tend to direct most of our attention to gaming apps and viewing videos on YouTube – trends that were partly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. A considerable chunk of our time is thus spent either on the necessities of work or otherwise, unproductively. Recent evidence points to how such use of our attention, directing them toward emotionally negative news (i.e., doomscrolling) is associated with increased depression and post-traumatic stress [6]. Surely there are better ways to use our leisure and downtime to aid in our recovery from the already hectic workweek. Research on the psychology of leisure shows us that there are better ways to spend our time so that we not only recover our precious attentional resources but also help enhance our resilience and well-being.

Leisure comprises any positive, pleasurable activity that we mentally and/or physically engage in [7]. Such activities are generally enjoyable, are those that we choose to freely engage with, and are relaxing experiences. We also engage in leisure for its own sake and find ourselves being able to freely express ourselves when engaging in these pursuits. Studies of what researchers call ‘serious leisure’ also indicate that even the busiest CEOs engage in dedicated leisurely activities to help them detach from work, regain a sense of control, and cope with the demands of their roles [8]. Engagement with leisure is linked with enhanced emotional well-being, as measured by more frequent experiences of positive emotions [9]. And, employees who engaged in leisure not only reported higher well-being – they also reported themselves feeling more competent and free when engaging in their leisurely pursuits [10]. Not all leisure activities have the same effect, however. In a global study of about 48,000 respondents, activities such as reading and engaging in activities that allow you to enhance a skill tend to lead to greater well-being than spending time on the internet or watching TV [11].

One way then, to maximize your recovery and enhance your resilience and overall well-being is to be more selective and deliberate in how you choose to spend your non-working hours. To that end, researchers have recommended that leisure helps promote better recovery and greater life satisfaction through five key ways – summarized in the acronym DRAMMA [12]:

• Detach and Recover: Optimal leisure helps us pull away from work, allowing us to recover from mental and physical exertion on our jobs. Think of an activity that redirects your attention from your work.

• Autonomy: When we are free to choose our leisurely experiences, we experience a greater sense of control over our lives. Think of an activity you can freely choose to engage in.

• Mastery: Certain forms of leisure help us improve our skills and abilities, leading us to experience a greater sense of competence and achievement. Consider if there is an activity that allows you to get better at something.

• Meaning: Leisure experiences can help encourage us to see the ‘big picture’ in our lives and to recognize that our potential contributions to this world come not just from our professional identities alone. Reflect on an activity that helps you recognize the significance of your life beyond your career.

• Affiliation: Engaging in enjoyable pastimes with others helps us build connections and positive relationships with others. Consider whether there is an enjoyable leisure activity that also brings closeness to a valued relationship.

Do you have a hobby, pastime or that fulfils most, if not all of these characteristics? Our time – and our attention are scarce resources that we tend to deplete and find few ways to effectively replenish at the end of the work week. A serious look at our leisure can help us consider that there are better ways of savouring and sharing our precious non-work hours for greater resilience and improved well-being.

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