Play, the Nervous System, and Recovery
We adults are remarkably good at turning almost everything into work. Even leisure can come with targets: a walk has to count toward a goal, movement becomes a routine to complete, and self-care can feel like one more task on the list. When did we stop doing things simply because they were interesting, pleasurable, or fun?
Play is more than amusement. It can be a way of approaching movement and experience with curiosity, flexibility, and less pressure to get it “right.” That shift matters when pain, anxiety, or trauma has made trying something new feel difficult.
Play is a way of exploring
Young mammals play in ways that can look like practice for life: they chase, tumble, balance, take turns, and respond to the unexpected. In rough-and-tumble play, the action changes from moment to moment. An animal must sense what is happening, adjust its movement, and respond to its playmate. Researchers suggest this kind of play can help develop flexible motor, emotional, and social responses. Much of the detailed neuroscience comes from animal studies, so we should be careful not to treat it as proof of what play does for every adult human.
Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp proposed that play is supported by a deeply rooted mammalian emotional system, which he called the PLAY system. In his framework, play is also connected with SEEKING: the brain’s motivation to explore and discover. In other words, play is not just an activity. It is a rewarding way of engaging with the world.
One clue to its developmental importance comes from studies of young rats: animals deprived of social play can have more difficulty adapting their behaviour in unfamiliar or changing situations. This does not mean adults need to recreate childhood play, or that play deprivation explains anyone’s struggles. It does suggest that experimenting and adapting are meaningful parts of learning.
Play, safety, and the nervous system
Playful exploration asks us to be active, but not braced for danger. In Stephen Porges’ polyvagal framework, social engagement is associated with cues of safety, while the body’s mobilization systems support action. From this perspective, play may involve a blend: enough ease to stay curious, with enough energy to move and explore.
This is a useful lens, not a simple diagnostic rule or a guarantee that play will regulate every nervous system. If your body reads an experiment as threatening, “just relax” is unlikely to help. A small, chosen, manageable experiment may be a kinder starting point.
Play’s appeal also has a brain-based dimension. In animal research, social play has been associated with activity in interconnected reward and frontal brain systems. One study found increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in specific brain regions of juvenile rats after play. BDNF supports neural development and plasticity (that finding does not show that play raises BDNF in adults or that BDNF explains recovery benefits).
The takeaway is valuable: playful activity gives the nervous system interesting, changing information to work with. It can invite attention, adaptation, and learning.
What this can mean for movement and pain
When movement hurts, it can become a chore to complete, or something to avoid because it feels risky. Both responses make sense. But movement does not have to be a test of strength or correctness. It can become an experiment: What changes if I move more slowly? If I use less effort? If I notice how the action feels rather than whether I have achieved a target?
Motor-learning research supports the value of practice that varies, but it does not say that more variation is always better. Effects depend on the task and the person. In somatic movement approaches such as Feldenkrais and NeuroMovement®, gentle variation and attention are used to help people notice options and refine movement. This is a practice principle, not a claim that a particular movement will cure pain.
For some people, exploring a familiar action in a new way can make movement feel less like a demand and more like information. The experiment should be small enough to remain manageable. You are not being asked to push through pain, ignore medical advice, or prove anything.
This can matter in anxiety and trauma, too. Playfulness does not require laughter, pretend games, or a belief that everything is fine. It can mean having choices: to pause, make the movement smaller, change direction, or stop. That sense of agency is part of what makes an experiment feel different from a demand.
Research on adult playfulness is encouraging but measured. In a study of 255 adults, playfulness was associated with life satisfaction and involvement in enjoyable activities; because it was correlational, it cannot show that playfulness caused greater well-being. A later randomized study found that brief exercises designed to invite playfulness produced small improvements in well-being and depressive symptoms. It did not test play as a treatment for chronic pain or trauma.
Play, anxiety, and trauma
When you live with anxiety or after trauma, the invitation to experiment can feel very different. If your nervous system has learned that unpredictability can mean danger, a new movement may register as a risk rather than an invitation. That response deserves respect, not override.
Trauma-informed therapy often uses titration: approaching difficult material in small, tolerable doses, with enough support to stay present rather than overwhelmed (Ogden & Minton, 2006). Playful experimentation fits this logic well, because it has a built-in dose dial. You choose the movement, the size, the speed, and the moment to stop. After experiences in which control was taken away, having that control again is not a small thing. Agency and predictability are central themes in trauma recovery (van der Kolk, 2014).
There is another interesting angle. In animal research, play tends to appear when immediate threat is absent: young animals play in environments that feel safe enough, and play disappears when they no longer do. In that sense, playfulness can act as a kind of barometer of safety. Recovering the ability to play after trauma is rarely a switch you flip; it is usually a gradual sign that the system is finding more moments of safety.
Play also involves something trauma can disrupt: flexible transitions. Rough-and-tumble play requires shifting between approach and retreat, chase and pause, activation and calm. Practising those transitions in small, chosen, low-stakes experiments may give a protective nervous system a different kind of experience: one where arousal rises and falls, and nothing bad happens.
If anxiety or trauma is part of your picture, make the experiment smaller than feels necessary. Keep familiar supports close: your back against a couch, contact with the floor, an easy breath. Stop whenever you choose. Changing your mind halfway through is not abandoning the experiment; it is the experiment.
A tiny play menu
Choose one idea, or make up your own. Try it for a few breaths or moments, at an effort level that feels comfortable. The goal is not to achieve a result; it is to notice differences.
Do a familiar action in a slightly different way.
Try a simple task with your non-dominant hand, if that feels comfortable.
Change the tempo: slower, then a little quicker.
Explore a small movement at about 20% effort. What do you notice?
If getting down and back up is safe and comfortable for you, explore a gentle roll on the floor. If not, skip it.
You can change your mind halfway through. You can stop. That is not failure; it is part of the experiment. If any movement increases pain or feels unsafe, stop and choose something gentler, or leave it for another day.
I don’t think adults lose their capacity for play. We often lose the habit of making room for it. In my work, I see how confidence and a sense of choice can help people become curious about what their bodies and minds might do next. Play is not a shortcut or a promise of recovery. It can be one small way to reconnect with possibility.
If you would like support exploring movement in a thoughtful, low-pressure way, you can book a NeuroSomatic Therapy session in Montreal or online, or learn more about support for chronic pain. This work is not a substitute for medical care; choose movement that feels appropriate for you and follow guidance from your healthcare provider.
What can you do today to introduce some playfulness in your life?
References
Brown, S. (2009). Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. Avery.
Pellis, S. M., & Pellis, V. C. (2007). Rough-and-tumble play and the development of the social brain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(2), 95–98. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00483.x
Panksepp, J. (1998). Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. Oxford University Press.
Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. W. W. Norton.
Proyer, R. T. (2013). The well-being of playful adults: Adult playfulness, subjective well-being, physical well-being, and the pursuit of enjoyable activities. European Journal of Humour Research, 1(1), 84–98. https://doi.org/10.7592/ejhr2013.1.1.proyer
Proyer, R. T., Gander, F., Brauer, K., & Chick, G. (2021). Can playfulness be stimulated? A randomised placebo-controlled online playfulness intervention study on effects on trait playfulness, well-being, and depression. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 13(1), 129–151. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12220
Špinka, M., Newberry, R. C., & Bekoff, M. (2001). Mammalian play: Training for the unexpected. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 76(2), 141–168. https://doi.org/10.1086/393866
Vanderschuren, L. J. M. J., Achterberg, E. J. M., & Trezza, V. (2016). The neurobiology of social play and its rewarding value in rats. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 70, 86–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.025
Ogden, P., & Minton, K., with Pain, C. (2006). Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Approach. W. W. Norton.
Porges, S. W. (2009). The polyvagal theory: New insights into adaptive reactions of the autonomic nervous system. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, 76(Suppl 2), S86–S90. https://doi.org/10.3949/ccjm.76.s2.17
van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.
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