Why it pays to spend time alone.
IN 2011, RESEARCHERS at Harvard University and the University of Virginia exposed study participants to a small, painful electric shock. They then handed over $5 and asked each person how much of the $5 they’d be willing to forfeit to avoid the unpleasant sensation. In the next step of the study, the participants sat, solo, in a room for 15 minutes. The only available stimulation was the option of shocking themselves by pushing a button.
Of those who had said they’d offer money to escape the zap, more than 60 per cent of the men and a quarter of the women voluntarily shocked themselves. Physical pain, it seemed, was preferable to spending a few minutes alone with their thoughts.
Solitude, clearly, isn’t our most comfortable state. But based on recent research, we’d be wise to overcome anxiety around being by ourselves. While nobody’s advocating becoming a hermit, there are benefits to spending at least some time alone.
We become better people
Denne historien er fra February 2017-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.
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Denne historien er fra February 2017-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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SWITCHED
In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.
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A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood
Fiction's Foresight
British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?
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The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.
