| Just sharing some thoughts on your questions, not claiming I got conclusive answers: Leisure time like listening to music or playing a video game can make you happier. Such happy events can re-energize not on that specific day necessarily, but e.g. the workweek (or beginning of workweek) afterwards. Neutral and unpleasant activity will not have such effect. Anecdotal: overcoming a great challenge in gaming in a team had made me euphoric for a few days. I woke up and was literally right away excited. Gaming doesn't always have such effect though. One problem games (and TV etc) have is that it can feel like a choir. A mandatory riedel you gotta sing every X time together with person Y on time Z. Even when at times you really don't wanna. Then you can end up in a negative spiral, especially if the other factors are being difficult as well (e.g. your kid, work, etc). Because it isn't always static. Sometimes you want to skip. If you game in a team, play a team sport, or are a high performing athlete you might be hard on yourself. If you got on-demand TV, you can skip easier, but I suppose the monthly pay makes you wanna eat your cake as part of the all you can eat sub. Sports can affect your brain by increasing your cognitive performance. I suppose it can be proven with EEG/MRI scans. Probably rather costly, but if its done for academic purposes and reproduced by a TV show you got two birds (tho not with one stone): the scientific part background, and that being applied for the general population explained with simplicity. > How did you realize you actually enjoyed listening to music uninterrupted rather than driving? By testing the effect of driving without music, or listening to music without driving. |
If I couldn't play Chess online I don't know what else I'd do to relax that wasn't vegging in front of the TV.
This year I'm going to my local club as well and play OTB for the social aspects.