What is the Power of Play?
Nestled in California’s Carmel Valley, researchers Scott G Eberle and Stuart Brown recently unlocked an important idea that can help mitigate the post-pandemic, declining state of public and mental health: human beings — especially adults — must play more.
Erble, who has been working on the ‘Power of Play’ concept for over 30 years at the National Institute for Play in Central California, published a new study in early May showing that play uniquely lights up areas in our brains that develop new means of thinking. Plainly, this is big for public health — play can be used as an antidote to the mental health crises plaguing the U.S..
The benefits of outdoor and play activities are by no means a new concept. But, Erble and Brown found that playing literally births new brain cells in the hippocampus, and activates neural pathways that make our brains “stronger.”
After studying 6,000 people, Brown and Eberle found that ‘play circuits’ are buried deep in the brain. When people play, it stimulates different parts of the brain, strengthening neural pathways that are important for strong skills and overall wellbeing.
“Play isn’t frivolous. If you are deprived of it, there are usually long-term outcomes that are damaging,” Brown said. “One begins to see that play itself — in giraffes, dogs, birds, and humans — is a phenomenon of nature.”
Just 200 miles south of Eberle and Stuart’s institute, public health officials, medical practices and community organizations in Santa Barbara County witnessed the advantages unearthed by this research.
According to Carpinterian physician Dr. Peggy Dodds, Santa Barbara clinics are in early stages of implementing play as a ‘prescription,’ in the form of after-school programs or guided play at recess, for children struggling with trauma or early mental conditions. Dodds said that traumatic events rewire the young brain and make kids dramatically more prone to poor health; this includes twice the rate of stroke, cancer and heart disease over the course of a lifetime.
One program, the Sea League (TSL), has seen particular success implementing the power of play doctrines, largely by cultivating growth through a connection with nature and the ocean.
