Did you know that humans spend almost half of our waking lives daydreaming or mind wandering? On June 22, 2023 I had the opportunity to present on this topic at the International Association for the Study of Dreams Conference in Ashland, Oregon.
My presentation was titled, “What about daydreaming? Harnessing a wandering mind for creativity and improved mental health.” I shared the current research on daydreaming, which is showing that the average person daydreams 47% of the day and no less than 30% according to a 2010 Harvard study by Killingsworth and Gilbert, titled “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind.” Unfortunately, with a title like that, in my view, some of the new research (this study and others) is giving this natural and extremely common human phenomenon a misleading and negative reputation.
Researchers have been collecting information on the emotional impacts of daydreaming, and the results are really split. Some studies characterize daydreaming as a “cognitive control failure,” and show how daydreaming can have severe negative consequences, impacting our mood, memory, academic or work performance, and even our physical safety.
Other research studies show daydreaming to have multiple adaptive functions to areas of our executive functioning such as future planning and information processing. More results are coming out about how daydreaming is fundamental to meaning making, empathy, and creativity, especially creative incubation and problem solving. In my presentation, I brought together the varying research to explore how mental health professionals and the average person might understand this data, and work with it in practical and realistic ways.
Researchers are looking at numbers and data in isolated and curated studies. But, as a mental health provider, my training is to take the data we have, and offer a holistic approach, taking into consideration all of the parts as well as the whole, viewing aspects of our human experience as an interconnected web.
Though research may be limited, it serves an important function. Daydreaming is an area of study that merits more investigation. But, to understand how we might begin to work with our minds using the information we currently have, it can be helpful to grasp what’s going on in the brain that induces this state:
The brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN), or a group of brain regions that are active when the mind is at rest, is thought to be the brain’s “default mode” or baseline state of operation when we are awake. These parts of the brain are not actively engaged when we are involved in a cognitively demanding task, or difficult activity that requires a certain level of participation. But, the DMN is active when daydreaming occurs, indicating that daydreaming or mind wandering is a fundamental human state of consciousness. We were designed to daydream, and to do so for almost half of our waking lives.
The research on daydreaming gets even more exciting when scientists found a neurocognitive link between dreaming and daydreaming. We now know that our sleep time dreams originate in the same parts of the brain known to be most active during mind wandering, the DMN!
Going back to the practical aspects of daydreaming, and how to work with your daydreams for improved mental health, three types or styles of daydreaming have been identified and validated since 1975 starting with the research by Jerome L. Singer, who is known as “the father of daydreaming.” These styles include:
1. Positive-Constructive Daydreams
2. Guilty – Dysphoric Daydreams
3. Poor Attentional Control.
Research is revealing that the type of daydream your brain is engaged in can have either positive or negative impacts on many aspects of one’s life including ones mental physical, social, and emotional health.
Through the gift of consciousness we can become aware of the ways in which we are daydreaming, what we are daydreaming about, when and where we are most likely to have our minds wander, and instead start to actively engage our daydreaming minds so that this naturally occurring state is of benefit to our mental health and wellbeing.
Studies found that meditation does influence activity in the DMN, suggesting this may be part of its mechanism for improving well-being. Many religious and philosophical traditions teach about living in the moment and being present in the here and now as a key to happiness and enlightenment. We cannot stop mind wandering. It’s what the brain does. What we can do is become aware that we are having thoughts, that our minds are wandering, and then choose what we do and where we go from there.
Things to Do at Home to work with Daydreams:
- Set aside time each day for conscious daydreaming.
- Start to track your thoughts – use a thought record from CBT to notice how your thoughts make you feel.
- Practice mindfulness meditation or awareness building activities.
- Work with a psychotherapist.
- Realize that you have the power to change, interact and have a relationship with your thoughts, mind wandering, and daydreams.