Five benefits of spending time alone

Many people shun solitude and view it as antisocial behaviour. People who spend a healthy amount of time by themselves are perceived to be loners who are social misfits. They are sometimes termed as ‘proud’, ‘snobs’ or ‘weird’. What a number of people may not know is that solitude has a number of mental and physical health benefits.

Below are five benefits of spending more time alone.

Life gets hectic when our schedules are jam-packed with school, work and day-to-day errands. A lot of times, we forget to allocate time for ourselves away from everyone else. Solitude is a healthy way to recharge, reboot your brain and unwind.  Take a couple of minutes every day to breathe, listen to music or take a long shower. Do whatever you need to do to replenish your energy and relax your body and mind.

Do you know your true identity away from the roles you play in family, work or school? There are gifts and talents in you that you are yet to discover because of external noise from living a regular life. When you are constantly surrounded by people, you will be more influenced to follow the crowd and do things that you would not want to do had it been your own decision.

By spending more time by yourself, you become more comfortable in your own skin, helping you make sound choices without external influence. That way, you discover more about yourself.

Don’t view solitude as flat out loneliness because spending time alone can help you deal with the stresses of the world by processing your thoughts and feelings in a healthy way. Studies show that the ability to spend time alone is linked to an increase in happiness, better stress management and better life satisfaction.

This is a healthy way to fight depression since you will become more comfortable in your own skin because your thoughts and feelings are not influenced by the people \round you. If symptoms persist, don’t be ashamed to seek professional help.

Being alone allows your brain to wander and come up with new ways of doing things. Private time by yourself allows you to come up with new ideas because there are fewer distractions. This is especially effective if you are in a creative field.

The best time to get important things done is when you do them alone. Studies show that being surrounded by people all the time kills productivity, especially in the workplace. You concentrate better when you aren’t trying to meet a fast-approaching deadline and simultaneously having a juicy conversation with a friend. You can catch up with everyone once you get the important stuff out of the way.