What the Primal Blueprint means to me. Law#7 Play

I think we can all agree that leading a stressful life is damaging to our health, there shouldn't be any debate there. But on the other side of the coin, I think we forget the benefits of stress-free times, and at the far end of the spectrum, actually having fun and playing. Play isn't just a past time for kids who haven't had the misfortune to grow up and commit to full-time jobs (including the hour commute each way) and family commitments. We all need to play, the release of "feel good" hormones (including, but not limited to endorphins) is essential to de-stress and have a bit of enjoyment in our lives. Play allowed our ancestors to socialize, build relationships, and actually use their health and fitness to enjoy simply moving. No, sitting in front of the TV for 2-3 hours after a long days work is not considered de-stressing or playtime under the primal blueprint.

Sadly, in the UK it rains far too much in the autumn to enjoy this kind of play

What is play? Play can be a huge number of things, sports are a great example because you are literally playing them. In addition though, you are competing, socializing and building teamwork. In addition, these kinds of playtime are enjoyable ways to move and get the heart going outside of the pre-defined exercise regimes without the view to simply up the number of hours in the gym each week. If anything, play is more important to overall well being than some of the movement laws. Sadly, we don't really allow ourselves to play anymore.

Here are some good, and some bad examples of "playtime" that I have taken part in over the past few years.

• Martial arts - good exercise, discipline, progression, and applied physical ability. Also working with others to refine skills and build the relationships afterwards. I like this example because it combines all of the primal blueprint exercise laws while building skills and physical ability and control.
• After-training drinks - After a 1-2 hour karate session, meeting in the pub afterwards is a great for socializing, catching up with friends and solidifying relationships outside of working hard, and well, beating each other up for a few hours a week. This has taken two forms over my University career. In the early years it was drinking time, i.e. get the drinks in, spill into halls after midnight with maybe 8 pints down, and sleep still in need of a shower. Later on, this became a far more tame glass of water to re-hydrate and maybe a few drinks maximum, or just an orange juice depending on my mood and cash-flow. Socializing, tick. However, there is a bit of a fuzzy area surrounding drinking and good health. Some is perhaps ok, but after exercise, maybe not so much. I'll call this one part of the 80/20 rule.
• Hanging with the family in the garden in summer time. Must be summer in the UK otherwise it rains 95% of the time. Good socializing and catching up
• Sports - I have had games of badminton, chucked a Frisbee around and just general playing around outside and enjoying time.
• Games nights - kind of counts as socializing, but too much time sitting in front of a screen, in a dark room and playing video games for hours isn't really conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
• Playing with my dog - he's coming on 14 years old now so he isn't quite as sprighty as he once was, but still good fun to play with.

I liked this infographic as a fair summary of the benefits of playing sports.

Play is good for us, and just because we have commitments and busy schedules does not mean that we should neglect this key component of our lifestyles. In addition, trying to 'primalise' the play you do get has benefits also and allows playtime to merge with the movement and exercise laws (e.g. does going out drinking with friends, coming home fairly incoherent at 3am and feeling pretty sick the next day really count as play? answer- no, even with all those selfies you took showing how much fun you were having). I am guilty of not getting anywhere near enough play, and this is the primal law I am having the most trouble with. As much as saying that a full time master's degree and a part-time job, as well as fairly strict exercise regime leaves little time for play (especially when I am stressing about coursework) seems like a fair excuse; it will not do if I want to have the best health possible. Once again I'll stress the point, for type 1 diabetics, looking after all elements of health is essential - de-stressing and playing often enables better diabetes control and allows for avoidance of related complications. Its not all about only diet and exercise anymore; we must take a holistic approach.

So here is a challenge for us all. Take a few hours over the course of the next week, and play. Do something new/different, or do something more of what you enjoy. Do it with family or friends, and try to make it as primal as possible. Head to the park with the family and the dog and run about, play and enjoy the time spent. Take a football, Frisbee or whatever you can play with and play. Maybe post a comment and share the playtime fun. I'll try to write a brief follow up post sharing some play that I will be doing while the sun is out. One of the popular quotes of today is 'you only live once', often as an excuse to act like a stupid, spoiled, and selfish child. However, when we recontextualize this into 'you only die once, you live everyday', perhaps we can see the importance of playing, de-stressing and enjoying life everyday - rather than as an attempt to justify reckless behaviors. 

YOLO? I'd rather not. I want to live every day

Respectfully,

Sam