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Anger, sadness, boredom, anxiety – emotions that feel bad can be useful

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/heather-lench-1349234">Heather Lench</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/texas-aandm-university-1672">Texas A&M University</a> Remember the sadness that came with the last time you failed miserably at something? Or the last time you were so anxious about an upcoming event that you couldn’t concentrate for days? These types of emotions are unpleasant to experience and can even feel overwhelming. People often try to avoid them, suppress them or ignore them. In fact, in psychology experiments, people will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9394-7">pay money to not feel many negative emotions</a>. But recent research is revealing that emotions can be useful, and even negative emotions can bring benefits. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fzHtrJIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">In my</a> <a href="https://emotionsciencelab.com">emotion science lab</a> at Texas A&M University, we study how emotions like anger and boredom affect people, and we explore ways that these feelings can be beneficial. We share the results so people can learn how to use their emotions to build the lives they want. Our studies and many others have shown that emotions aren’t uniformly good or bad for people. Instead, different emotions can result in better outcomes in particular types of situations. Emotions seem to function like a Swiss army knife – different emotional tools are helpful in specific situations. <h2>Sadness can help you recover from a failure</h2> Sadness occurs when people perceive that they’ve lost a goal or a desired outcome, and there’s nothing they can do to improve the situation. It could be getting creamed in a game or failing a class or work project, or it can be losing a relationship with a family member. Once evoked, sadness is associated with what psychologists call a deactivation state of doing little, without much behavior or <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/arousal">physical arousal</a>. Sadness also brings <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12232">thinking that is more detailed and analytical</a>. It makes you stop <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412474458">and think</a>. The benefit of the stopping and thinking that comes with sadness is that it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77619-4_4">helps people recover from failure</a>. When you fail, that typically means the situation you’re in is not conducive to success. Instead of just charging ahead in this type of scenario, sadness prompts people to step back and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016242">evaluate what is happening</a>. When people are sad, they process information in a deliberative, analytical way and want to avoid risk. This mode comes with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.2.318">more accurate memory</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939108411048">judgment that is less influenced</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2004.11.005">by irrelevant assumptions or information</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.04.010">better detection of other people lying</a>. These cognitive changes can encourage people to understand past failures and possibly prevent future ones. Sadness can function differently when there’s the possibility that the failure could be avoided if other people help. In these situations, people tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1994.tb01049.x">cry and can experience</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-018-0526-y">increased physiological arousal</a>, such as quicker heart and breathing rates. Expressing sadness, through tears or verbally, has the benefit of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491301100114">potentially recruiting other people to help you</a> achieve your goals. This behavior appears to start in infants, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1127506">tears and cries signaling caregivers to help</a>. <h2>Anger prepares you to overcome an obstacle</h2> Anger occurs when people perceive they’re losing a goal or desired outcome, but that they could improve the situation by removing something that’s in their way. The obstacle could be an injustice committed by another person, or it could be a computer that repeatedly crashes while you’re trying to get work done. Once evoked, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024244">anger is associated with a “readiness for action,”</a> and your <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00313-6">thinking focuses on the obstacle</a>. The benefit of being prepared for action and focused on what’s in your way is that it motivates you to overcome what’s standing between you and your goal. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073913512003">When people are angry</a>, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420240104">process information and make judgments rapidly</a>, want to take action, and are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.03.010">physiologically aroused</a>. In experiments, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.04.017">anger actually increases the force of people’s kicks</a>, which can be helpful in physical encounters. Anger results in better outcomes in situations that involve challenges to goals, including confrontational games, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000350">tricky puzzles</a>, video games with obstacles, and responding quickly on tasks. Expressing anger, facially or verbally, has the benefit of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000292">prompting other people to clear the way</a>. People are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.57">more likely to concede in negotiations</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.12.015">give in on issues</a> when their adversary looks or says they are angry. <h2>Anxiety helps you prepare for danger</h2> Anxiety occurs when people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371105601202">perceive a potential threat</a>. This could be giving a speech to a large audience where failure would put your self-esteem on the line, or it could be a physical threat to yourself or loved ones. Once evoked, anxiety is associated with being prepared to respond to danger, including increased physical arousal and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01701.x">attention to threats and risk</a>. Being prepared for danger means that if trouble brews, you can respond quickly to prevent or avoid it. When anxious, people detect threats rapidly, have fast reaction times and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01701.x">are on heightened alert</a>. The eye-widening that often comes with fear and anxiety even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2138">gives people a wider field of vision</a> and improves threat detection. Anxiety prepares the body for action, which improves performance on a number of tasks that involve motivation and attention. It motivates people to prepare for upcoming events, such as devoting time to study for an exam. Anxiety also prompts protective behavior, which can help prevent the potential threat from becoming a reality. <h2>Boredom can jolt you out of a rut</h2> There is less research on boredom than many other emotions, so it is not as well understood. Researchers debate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.02.002">what it is</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/bs3030459">what it does</a>. Boredom appears to occur when someone’s current situation is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/bs3030459">not causing any other emotional response</a>. There are three situations <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9234-9">where this lack can occur</a>: when emotions fade, such as the happiness of a new car fading to neutral; when people don’t care about anything in their current situation, such as being at a large party where nothing interesting is happening; or when people have no goals. Boredom does not necessarily set in just because nothing is happening – someone with a goal of relaxation might feel quite content sitting quietly with no stimulation. Psychology researchers think that the benefit of boredom in situations where people are not responding emotionally is that it <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000433">prompts making a change</a>. If nothing in your current situation is worth responding to, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.154">aversive experience of boredom can motivate you</a> to seek new situations or change the way you’re thinking. Boredom has been related to more risk seeking, a desire for novelty, and creative thinking. It seems to function like an emotional stick, nudging people out of their current situation to explore and create. <h2>Using the toolkit of emotion</h2> People want to be happy. But research is finding that a satisfying and productive life includes a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000292">mix of positive and negative emotions</a>. Negative emotions, even though they feel bad to experience, can motivate and prepare people for failure, challenges, threats and exploration. Pleasant or not, your emotions can help guide you toward better outcomes. Maybe understanding how they prepare you to handle various situations will help you feel better about feeling bad.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217654/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/heather-lench-1349234">Heather Lench</a>, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/texas-aandm-university-1672">Texas A&M University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/anger-sadness-boredom-anxiety-emotions-that-feel-bad-can-be-useful-217654">original article</a>.

Mind

Feeling bloated, hungry or bored after salad? These tips might help

Salads are great for our health. They are nutritious, packed full of gut-loving fibre, micronutrients, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. However, some people can experience certain downsides to eating salad after salad, including feeling bored, bloated or even still hungry. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your salad-eating habits as the weather warms up. <h2>Keep yourself fuller for longer</h2> Salads are naturally low in calories or kilojoules. This is because salads mostly contain vegetables, which have a high water content. This may mean you don’t feel very satisfied after eating your salad – making it hard to stay full until your next meal. Instead of eating a salad and then later reaching for something less healthy to fill up on, you can stay fuller for longer by including all three macronutrients in your salad: <ol> <li> a healthy carbohydrate source (pumpkin, sweet potato, parsnips, taro, brown rice, quinoa, barley or brown pasta) </li> <li> a healthy fat source (avocado, olive oil, toasted seeds or nuts) </li> <li> a lean protein source (eggs, fish, chicken, tofu, tempeh, lentils or legumes). </li> </ol> <h2>Reduce bloating</h2> Many people experience bloating and/or gut upset when they eat a lot of salad. This commonly occurs if someone is going quickly from a less healthy, low-fibre diet to a healthier, high-fibre diet. It happens because your gut microbes are multiplying and producing lots of plant-digesting enzymes (which is great for your gut health!). However, your gut needs some time to adapt and adjust over time. You can help alleviate any discomfort by: <ol> <li> taking a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-022-01649-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">short walk</a> or doing some stretching after eating your salad. This has been shown to reduce bloating as it loosens up the gut muscles and helps release any trapped gas </li> <li> being <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7219460/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mindful</a> of how you are preparing lentils and legumes. Ensure they are thoroughly rinsed and only include ¼ cup of them (soaked) to begin with if they are something new in your diet </li> <li> eating your salad mindfully. A non-relaxed, uptight gut or a gut that has recently been irritated by an illness can mean your gut is not as efficient in absorbing gas. This can trigger bloating as the gas gets “trapped” </li> <li> cooking some of the vegetables in your salad. Applying temperature or heat to your vegetables can help break them down and make them easier to digest </li> <li> considering your symptoms. If you experience extreme abdominal pain, irregular bowel habits (including chronic diarrhoea or constipation, or alternating diarrhoea and constipation) and a bloated stomach after eating salad it may indicate you are suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Please see an accredited practising dietitian who can make an assessment and diagnose IBS, help you identify your triggers and manage your symptoms </li> <li> being mindful of your current health conditions or treatments. For example, if you are undergoing chemotherapy treatment, some drugs can slow down your digestion. This may mean some vegetables and other high-fibre foods in your salad upset your gut. Again, speaking with an accredited practising dietitian is the best way to receive evidence-based advice on how to manage this. </li> </ol> <h2>Keep salad boredom at bay</h2> Stuck on what makes a good salad? Here’s Lauren’s tried and tested formula, based on six categories of ingredients: <ol> <li> leaves, such as lettuce, rocket or spinach </li> <li> something sweet and juicy, such as tomato, pear, mango, peach or whatever is in season </li> <li> something with crunch, such as carrot, capsicum or broccolini </li> <li> a type of nut, such as cashew or macadamia </li> <li> a cheese, such as feta, bocconcini, mature cheddar, parmesan, edam </li> <li> something fragrant, such as mint, parsley, basil or coriander. </li> </ol> To make the salad into a complete meal, add a healthy carbohydrate, fat and protein source (the three macronutrients we mentioned earlier). The bottom line? Eating salads is a great way to have a healthy, diverse diet. With these tweaks, you can make the most of the summer weather ahead! This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/feeling-bloated-hungry-or-bored-after-salad-these-tips-might-help-190843" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Body

The benefits of boredom

Back in 1973 – when the internet, on-demand TV and games consoles were still the stuff of science fiction – the BBC launched a new show to keep kids entertained during the school holidays. Its not-so-snappy full title? Why Don’t You Just Switch Off Your Television Set And Go And Do Something Less Boring Instead? Children attempted to inspire their peers to try out various activities, such as creating portraits out of staples or rustling up some mini ham and cheese sandwiches. Nowadays, in the age of round-the-clock entertainment, it’s (technically) trickier to be bored. If the show you’re watching has lost its spark, you can select an instant high-octane alternative or amuse yourself by scrolling through social media without even leaving the sofa. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Feeling disengaged from the task in hand – or simply devoid of stimulation – does have its benefits, according to researchers. Does boredom make us more creative? First and foremost, being bored motivates you to search out something less boring to do. Feeling bored at work, for example, could inspire you to explore a change of career. Or if you decide there’s nothing worth watching on TV, you might choose to switch off and make your own entertainment by taking up a new hobby. This, according to researchers at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, can explain why the lockdowns of the past two years saw a surge in creativity among people stuck at home. From banana-bread-making to picking up a paintbrush for the first time since childhood, many of us realised there are only so many times you can watch Tiger King on Netflix before you need to find other ways to amuse yourself. But what about those times when you have no choice but to stick with the boring situation – carrying out a mundane task at work or waiting for a bus, for instance? The good news is that the boredom you’re feeling now could spark your creativity and help you come up with some of your best ideas, says a 2019 study published in the Academy of Management Discoveries journal. People who’d taken part in a boring bean-sorting task later performed better at coming up with creative ideas than another group who’d been given something more interesting to do first. What's the point of daydreaming? Without distractions such as social media and TV to quash those feelings of boredom, we may well fall back on that age-old failsafe: daydreaming. And, despite what parents and teachers may have told you when you were young, daydreaming is good for you. Letting your thoughts wander without the distractions of technology can be a useful way to “allow your mind to unwind, alleviate stress and solve problems, boosting your productivity and creativity in the process,” writes the University of Central Lancashire’s Dr Sandi Mann. In fact, if you find it difficult to stop your mind from straying during boring meetings or tasks, it could be a result of your impressive brain capacity, says a 2019 study from the Georgia Institute of Technology. People who reported more frequent daydreaming scored higher on intellectual and creative ability and had more efficient brains. Put simply, some people seem better equipped than others to focus on more than one thing at a time. Likewise, doodling during a tedious meeting or call can provide just the right amount of stimulation to help you stay alert and pay attention, University of Plymouth researchers have found. People who doodled while listening to a dull, rambling voicemail message were better able to recall details from the call than those who’d simply sat and listened. Are we more easily bored nowadays? Still, why daydream at the bus stop when you can simply scroll through your phone like everyone else? For starters, spending every spare moment staring at a screen can have a well-documented negative effect on your mental wellbeing, sleep quality and eyesight. But that’s not all: over time, it reduces your boredom tolerance levels and means you become less able to think creatively, problem-solve and simply notice what’s going on around you. Ultimately, if we take it for granted that there’ll always be something close at hand to entertain us, we start to lose the ability to entertain others, think creatively and allow our minds to switch off and relax. We stop coming up with new ideas and we’re less motivated to find ways to do something less boring instead. Whisper it: we run the risk of becoming boring ourselves. Written by Jane Murphy. This article first appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/culture/the-benefits-of-boredom" target="_blank">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a rel="noopener" href="http://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA87V" target="_blank">here’s our best subscription offer.</a> Image: Getty Images <img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" />

Mind

The problem with virtual reality is endless possibilities

Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure had <a href="https://content.fortune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/vir_graphic_01.png">plummeted to US$280 million</a>. <a href="https://www.oculus.com/?locale=en_US">Oculus</a> - the Facebook-owned company behind one of the most popular VR headsets on the market - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-facebooks-oculus-go-santa-cruz-headsets-plan-to-make-vr-mainstream-2017-10">planned to deliver 1 billion headsets to consumers</a>, but as of last year had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-oculus-vr-bet-taking-longer-than-expected-2019-10?r=US&IR=T">sold barely 300,000</a>. Investments in VR entertainment venues all over the world, VR cinematic experiences, and specialised VR studios such as <a href="https://atap.google.com/spotlight-stories/">Google Spotlight</a> and <a href="https://www.ccpgames.com/">CCP Games</a> have either significantly downsized, closed down or morphed into new ventures. What is happening? Recent articles in <a href="https://fortune.com/longform/virtual-reality-struggle-hope-vr/">Fortune</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/a/virtual-reality">The Verge</a> have voiced disdain with VR technology. Common complaints include expensive, clunky or uncomfortable hardware, and unimaginative or repetitive content. Sceptics have compared VR experiences to the 3D television fad of the early 2010s. As a VR researcher and developer, I understand the scepticism. Yet I believe in this technology, and I know there are “killer apps” and solutions waiting to be discovered. Last week, Western Sydney University hosted a <a href="https://vrst.acm.org/vrst2019/">global symposium on VR software and technology</a>, at which academics and industry partners from around the world discussed possible ways forward for VR and augmented reality. Among the speakers were Aleissia Laidacker, director of Developer Experience at <a href="https://www.magicleap.com/">Magic Leap</a>; University of South Australia computing professor <a href="https://people.unisa.edu.au/Mark.Billinghurst">Mark Billingurst</a>; and Tomasz Bednarz, director of UNSW’s <a href="https://artdesign.unsw.edu.au/research/epicentre-expanded-perception-interaction-centre">Expanded Perception and Interaction Centre</a>. Virtual reality, literal headache One problem discussed at the symposium is the fact that VR experiences often cause health-related issues including headaches, eye strain, dizziness, and nausea. Developers can partially deal with these issues at the hardware level by delivering balanced experiences with high refresh and frame rates. But many developers are ignoring usability guidelines in the pursuit of exciting content. Gaming industry guidelines used by <a href="https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Platforms/VR/DevelopVR/ContentSetup/index.html">Epic</a>, <a href="https://developer.oculus.com/design/latest/concepts/book-bp/">Oculus</a>, <a href="https://blog.marvelapp.com/designing-vr-beginners-guide/">Marvel</a>, and <a href="https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/guidelines-for-immersive-virtual-reality-experiences">Intel</a> recommend that games completely avoid any use of induced motion, acceleration or “fake motion”, which are often the main cause of discomfort and motion sickness. Yet the vast majority of available VR experiences feature some kind of induced motion, either in the form of animation or by basing the experience on user movement and exploration of the virtual environment. I have met many first-time VR users who generally enjoyed the experience, but also reported “feeling wrong” – similar to enjoying the clarity of sound in noise-cancelling headphones but also having a “strange sensation” in their ears. Killing creativity Queasiness is not the only turnoff. Another problem is that despite the near-limitless potential of VR, many current offerings are sorely lacking in imagination. The prevailing trend is to create VR versions of existing content such as games, videos or advertisements, in the hope of delivering extra impact. This does not work, in much the same way that radio play would make terrible television. A famous cautionary tale comes from <a href="https://secondlife.com/">Second Life</a>, the virtual world launched in 2003 which <a href="https://gigaom.com/2013/06/23/second-life-turns-10-what-it-did-wrong-and-why-it-will-have-its-own-second-life/">failed spectacularly to live up to its billing</a>. Real-world businesses such as Toyota and BMW opened branches in Second Life, allowing users to test-drive badly programmed versions of their virtual cars. They <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/technology/few-lives-left-for-second-life-20080821-gdsrna.html">lasted mere months</a>. Why would we prefer a humdrum virtual experience to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-virtual-reality-cannot-match-the-real-thing-92035">real one</a>? No one needs a virtual Toyota. We need to give users good reasons to leave their reality behind and immerse themselves in a new one. There have been some notable successes. <a href="https://beatsaber.com/">Beat Saber</a>, made by Czech indie developers, is the one of the few games that have explored the true potential of VR – and is the only VR game to have grossed more than US$20 million. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CPVOt7QjcM">VR Vaccine Project</a> helps to take the sting out of childhood needles, by combining a real-world vaccination with a superhero story in the virtual world, in which the child is presented with a magical shield at the crucial moment. I really hope VR is on its way to becoming more mainstream, more exciting, and less underwhelming. But we scientists can only present new technological solutions, to help make VR a more comfortable and enjoyable experience. Ultimately it is down to VR developers to learn from existing success stories and start delivering those “killer apps”. The possibilities are limited only by imagination.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126761/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tomas-trescak-876634">Tomas Trescak</a>, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/western-sydney-university-1092">Western Sydney University</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-main-problem-with-virtual-reality-its-almost-as-humdrum-as-real-life-126761">original article</a>.

Technology

Why being bored is good for you

Many of us don’t consider boredom as a pleasant feeling. It’s a state that we usually associate with the tedious and the uninteresting, be it a heavy textbook, a work seminar or a long commute. However, studies have shown that being bored can actually do wonders for your creativity. In a recent study published in the Academy of Management Discoveries, researchers found that being bored can improve productivity and work performance. The participants who had gone through the “boring” task of sorting beans by colour later performed better on solving a creative task than those who were made to do interesting craft activity. In the creative task – which asked people to come up with excuses for being late – the bored participants generated more and better ideas than the other group, as assessed by objective outsiders. The report concluded that boredom motivates individuals to try new things, or “engaging in different, often unusual, ways of doing things that are unlike typical or predictable responses.” Scientists around the world have agreed that despite the negative image, boredom is useful for humans. "From an evolutionary point of view, if you stay in one place for too long … you make yourself vulnerable to predators and you miss out on opportunity costs," James Danckert, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Waterloo told the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-01-05/boredom-is-anything-but-boring/10566842">ABC</a>. "Boredom is one signal that says, 'you've been here too long, go do something else'." With the prevalence of mobile phones and social media, boredom has become easier to evade – stimulation is always just a few clicks away. Peter Enticott, director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at <a href="https://this.deakin.edu.au/self-improvement/what-does-boredom-do-to-your-brain">Deakin’s School of Psychology</a> said that the effects of digital life on boredom and creativity remain to be seen. “It’s interesting that we seem to be increasingly less tolerant of boredom,” said Enticott. “Think about people constantly on smartphones, whenever the opportunity arises. The longer-term outcome of this will be very interesting, especially with each new generation who grow-up with these devices.” Do you agree with the claim that boredom is good for you? Let us know in the comments below.

Mind

Top 7 board games to cure your boredom

The fun of board games remains undeniable, maintaining themselves still this day as a primary source of entertainment for families, friends and even the grandkids. Whether you’re looking to perfect your motor skills, social negotiation or strategic reasoning, there are a number of games that do just that. Scroll through the gallery above to see the top 7 board games to cure your boredom. Do you have any of these board games? Let us know in the comments below.

Art

The biggest problem new retirees encounter

Most retirees will agree there’s nothing better than that first day of retirement and the realisation that you never have to go back to work. Bliss! However, after the initial joy of the newfound freedom, many formerly busy people find themselves mistaking this freedom for fulfilment, and this can be a huge problem. After the retirement honeymoon period wears off, some people may feel bored, lonely, useless and disconnected. And, considering live expectancy these days is up around the mid-80s, those who retire at 60 could find themselves with decades of these resentful, regretful feelings. So, how can you make the most of these golden years and avoid those post-retirement blues? Here are four steps to help you find new meaning and purpose in your life. <ol> <li>Plan – Financial planning before retirement is important, sure, but so is emotional planning. You may have all these grand plans floating around your head that you plan to act on when work is no longer a factor, but don’t throw yourself into each one right after you retire or you may find you soon run out of things to look forward to.</li> <li>Reinvent – Retirement doesn’t mean you’re done. Plenty of people use this time to set new goals, learn new skills and completely reinvent themselves. Use <a href="/health/caring/2016/04/how-to-find-your-ideal-hobby/" target="_blank">this one simple tip</a> to help find your passion in retirement and you’ll be on your way in no time.</li> <li>Connect – Sadly, many of us can tend to neglect our relationships during full-time work, so what better time than retirement to forge connections with your community and strengthen relationships with your family and friends?</li> <li>Dream – Anyone close to retirement knows what a great motivator the idea of never having to work again can be – in fact, many people do their best work during their pre-retirement years. This is because they have something to look forward to. So, even in retirement, you should always have something to aspire to. Whether it’s a holiday, an exciting event or something else entirely, never stop dreaming about what you want out of life.</li> </ol> Were you lucky enough to avoid that post-retirement lack of fulfillment feeling when you left work? Let us know in the comments below. Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/08/tips-to-help-your-marriage-survive-retirement/">Can your marriage survive retirement?</a> <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/07/5-ways-to-ensure-a-successful-retirement/">5 ways to ensure a successful retirement</a> <a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/07/reawaken-your-creativity-in-retirement/">Reawaken your creativity in retirement</a>

Retirement Life

Boredom-busting activities for kids (and adults)

As if it isn't already hard enough to keep the kids entertained, throw some wet weather in the mix and boredom ensues. Here’s a list of activities to keep young ones entertained. Hone your inner Da Vinci Encourage the kids, both the toddlers and the teenagers, to get out the art supplies and start creating - the options are endless with this activity. There are clay sculptures to make and canvasses to paint with fingers, sponges and paint brushes. Recycled items, such as plastic bottles, milk lids and cellophane, never goes amiss - kids are pretty innovative when given some glitter and glue. Masking tape the floor All you need is a roll of tape and a few toy cars to keep the young petrol heads busy for hours. Outline a racetrack throughout the entire house, let the kids decide how many lanes they want and what other household objects can feature in their little city. For those youngsters not so interested in cars, use the masking tape - ensuring it's the kind that comes off easily - to create a makeshift hopscotch game. Hold an indoor scavenger hunt Take a moment to put together a list of clues, giving the first to the children and putting the rest in obscure places around the house - each clue leads the kids onto the next. Eventually, and not before they have worked as a team to brainstorm the answers, they will discover a trove of treasure, whether it be a delicious treat or another fun activity, such as a board game to play or a DVD to watch. Here are three clues to get you started - I have four legs, but I don't have feet and I come in handy when it's time to eat. I rain on you when you need a scrub, I'm very much like my friend the tub. I'm filled with feathers or other soft fluff, to sleep without me can be quite tough. Get busy in the kitchen The wet weather is the perfect time to restock the plastic containers with delectable baked goods. It's also a great way to save some money on the weekly grocery bill and to introduce the children to some basic cooking skills. But when the biscuit containers and cake stands have already been filled and the kids are still wanting to whip something up in the kitchen, why not make some play dough - it's easy and cheaper than the store-bought version. All you need is one cup of plain flour, one cup of water, half a cup of cooking salt, one tablespoon of cooking oil, one tablespoon of cream of tartar and some food colouring. Go outside and get wet Just because it's raining, it doesn't mean you have to be stuck inside all day - go outside and enjoy a bit of liquid sunshine. Don a rain jacket and a pair of gumboots and go and have some fun amongst Mother Nature. There are worms to be found, puddles to stop in, mud to played with and rain to be danced under. Written by Tara Shaskey. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz.</a> Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/04/a-letter-to-by-new-granddaughter/">A letter to my baby granddaughter I’ve yet to meet</a> <a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/04/tips-to-avoid-family-dramas/">5 tips to avoid family dramas</a> <a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/04/grandparents-share-timeless-love-advice-kids/">Grandparents share timeless love advice with grandkids</a>

Family & Pets

Boredom can be good for you

Far from dulling the mind a new study claims that boredom might actually stimulate creativity. Dr Sandi Mann, from the University of Central Lancashire, tested the creativity of two groups of participants by asking them to find creative uses for two polystyrene cups. Before the experiment, one group was asked to complete a monotonous writing task of copying phone numbers directly from a telephone. Dr Mann found the group who completed the humdrum task first found far more uses for the cups than the control group. "Boredom is a fascinating emotion because it is seen as so negative yet it is such a motivating force,” she said, adding, “I am also acutely aware that being bored is not the bad thing everyone makes it out to be. It is good to be bored sometimes! I think up so many ideas when I am commuting to and from work – this would be dead time, but thanks to the boredom it induces, come up with all sorts of projects.” Dr Mann’s research backs up the research of Dr Wijnand van Tilburg, a psychologist from University of Southampton, who also believes boredom to be beneficial. “Generally speaking, boredom feels unpleasant, and it involves feeling restless and unchallenged at the same time," he said. “In our research we have found that boredom fulfils an important function: boredom makes people keen to engage in activities that they find more meaningful than those at hand. “Essentially, the unpleasant sensation of boredom “reminds” people that there are more important matters attend to than those at hand.” Related links: <a href="/health/mind/2015/12/exercises-to-strengthen-your-willpower/">Simple exercises to strengthen your willpower</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2016/01/things-you-need-to-know-about-fear/">7 things you need to know about fear</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/health/mind/2016/01/how-to-stop-feeling-guilty/">How to stop feeling guilty</a>

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