How Important Is Alone Time for Mental Health?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsBenefitsChallengesPersonality and Alone TimeAloneness vs. LonelinessSigns You Need ItWays to Get ItGetting Others to Respect ItOvercoming Fear of Alone Time

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Benefits

Challenges

Personality and Alone Time

Aloneness vs. Loneliness

Signs You Need It

Ways to Get It

Getting Others to Respect It

Overcoming Fear of Alone Time

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Being around other people comes with rewards, but it also createsstress. You might worry about what people think or alter your behavior to avoid rejection and to fit in with the rest of the group. While this may be the cost of being part of a social world, some of these challenges demonstrate whyalone time can be so important.

Benefits of Alone Time

Having time for yourself gives you the chance to break free from social pressures and tap into your own thoughts,feelings, and experiences. Finding time to be alone can also have a number of key benefits. Some of these include:

Improved Personal Exploration

Becoming comfortable in your own company can give you the time and freedom to trulyexplore your own passionswithout interference. It can be a way to try new things, research topics that fascinate you, acquire knowledge, and even practice new methods of self-expression.

Giving yourself alone time means you can explore these things without the pressures and judgments that others may impose. Having time to yourself is critical for growth and personal development. Instead of worrying about the needs, interests, and opinions that others may have, alone time lets youfocus on yourself.

Increased Creativity

Alone time is an opportunity to let your mind wander and strengthen yourcreativity. Without the need to care for or interact with other people, you can ignore outside influences and focus inward.

Research actually suggests that being alone can lead to changes in the brain that help fuel the creative process. One study found that people who tend to purposely withdraw in order to spend time alone also tend to behighly creative people.

In a 2020 study published in the journalNature Communications, researchers found that perceived social isolation (a.k.a. loneliness) led to increased activity in the neural circuits related to imagination. When left with a lack of social stimulation, the brain ramps up its creative networks to help fill the void.

More Social Energy

Living alone tends to be seen in a negative light. However, researchers have found that people who live alone may actually have richer social lives and more social energy than people who cohabitate with others.

In his book “Going Solo,” sociologist Eric Klineberg notes that one in seven U.S. adults lives alone. Klineberg found that not only were these adults not lonely, many actually had richer social lives.

TheCOVID-19 pandemicdemonstrated both the challenges of loneliness and a lack of solitary time. While many people struggled with feelings of isolation and loneliness, others faced the challenges of suddenly spending a great deal of time in close quarters with family members or roommates. Blurred work-life boundaries and a lack of time apart meant that many people were suddenly struggling with a complete lack of alone time.

Reasons Why Alone Time Isn’t Always Easy

Alone time can be challenging for some people for a variety of reasons. One study found that many people would prefer to give themselves painful electric shocks rather than sit alone with their own thoughts.

Some of these reasons people might struggle with being alone include:

Such findings suggest that a stigma about being alone influences whether people think they enjoy such activities. “When people do things alone, they enjoy themselves more than they expected,” Ratner explains. “People overestimate the benefits of being with someone else.”

How Personality Affects the Need for Alone Time

“Our findings suggested that individuals who stay true to their choices and convictions are more likely to take interest and see value in spending time with themselves, despite their propensities for sociality or insecurity around other people,” the authors explain.

No matter what yourpersonality type, there may be times you can benefit from some quality time to yourself.

Even before the pandemic, experts warned of a loneliness epidemic that threatened the wellness of people of all ages. Research suggests that people experience more loneliness now than they have in the past. According to one 2018 report, half of Americans feel lonely sometimes, while 25% report feeling lonely almost all the time.

There is an abundance of evidence showing thatlonelinesscan have devastating health consequences. It has been linked to elevated blood pressure, hastened cognitive decline, social anxiety, and an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Loneliness is linked to a wide range of negative health consequences, including a higher risk for depression, anxiety, obesity, high blood pressure, and early death.

More recently, researchers have begun to explore the idea that a certain amount of quality alone time can be just as vital for emotional andphysical wellness.

Signs You Need Some Alone Time

It’s not always easy to recognize the signs that you might need some time away from other people. Some signs to watch for include:

The good news is that, even if you are struggling with any of these signs, a little alone time can have a significant restorative effect. In one study, people who reported spending approximately 11% of their time alone experienced fewer negative feelings in subsequent demanding social experiences.

Ways to Get Your Alone Time

If you are thinking of spending some time alone, it is important to do so in ways that are beneficial to your mental well-being. Being alone is most beneficial when it is voluntary. It’s also important that you feel like you can return to your social world whenever you like.

How Much Alone Time Is Healthy?Each person has differing needs for solitude and social time. Some might need just a few minutes now and then to reset a bad mood, while others might require more extensive stretches of alone time. Try finding a balance between the two that works for your unique needs.

How Much Alone Time Is Healthy?

Each person has differing needs for solitude and social time. Some might need just a few minutes now and then to reset a bad mood, while others might require more extensive stretches of alone time. Try finding a balance between the two that works for your unique needs.

Getting Others to Respect Your Alone Time

Finding time to be alone isn’t always easy. Those around you may have different social needs and may not understand your need for solitude. Family obligations and parenting responsibilities can also make it tough to carve out time for yourself.

Some steps that you can’t take to ensure that you get the time you need:

Try waking up early in the morning to enjoy some peaceful time to yourself before others in the house start to wake. If that isn’t an option, doing things like going for a walk outdoors or having other family members watch the kids or take over household duties while you take a break can be helpful.

Tips to Overcome a Fear of Alone Time

If the thought of being alone makes you fear that you’ll end up feeling lonely, research suggests it may be helpful toreframetime spent alone as solitude. In one study, participants were assigned to either read about the prevalence of loneliness, read a passage about the benefits of solitude, or read about an unrelated topic.

After completing this reading, the participants sat alone for a 10-minute period. In each condition, people experienced decreases in both negative and positive feelings. Such results suggest that while being alone might not always boost your mood, it can help you betterregulate your emotions.

The study also found that while people who read about the benefits of solitude didn’t necessarily experience a better mood, they didn’t have the same reduction of positive feelings that those in the other two groups did.

Such findings suggest that reassessing how you look at spending time alone can play an important role in moderating the potentially negative effects of loneliness.

A Word From Verywell

While being alone sometimes gets mistaken for being lonely, it is clear that having time to yourself now and then is important for mental health and well-being. If the thought of spending time on your own makes you feel bored or uncomfortable, try starting with a small chunk of alone time that allows you to focus on a specific task.

As you get better at enjoying your own company, you may find that this alone time helps you feel renewed and inspired for when you do return to your social circle.

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13 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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