Having fun… it seems like such a childish thought as an adult, doesn’t it?

When we were kids, no one judged us for having fun. In fact, it was greatly encouraged. The best part back then was that our idea of fun didn't depend on our status, level of education, job, neighborhood, car brand or number in our bank account. It was completely aligned with our higher, true selves.

As adults, many of us have forgotten about fun– or worse, minimize it. And the stats back it up. Below, we are diving into the statistics that clearly show the fun epidemic happening in our world today.

Do adults value having fun?

The short answer? Not many. According to a study conducted by Chase, adults definitely find fun important… and they wish they did it more often.

97 percent of adults think that having fun is very important.
81 percent of people wish they had more fun every day
Only 53 percent of Americans—and just 49 percent of women—report actually having it on a regular basis
Some 65 percent of Americans say they have fun less than half of the day, and 58 percent think they are limited in their ability to have fun

What do adults find fun?

Family? Friends? Eating food? Try all the above. Here are some of the top things adults like to do that they also classify as “fun.”

78 percent of adults would spend more time with their families (Chase)
72 percent would see their friends more frequently (Chase)
Other activities that Americans say would bring more fun into their lives include eating out, taking a road trip, giving a gift to someone else, visiting a park, spending time alone, seeing a concert or movie, and attending a sporting event. (Chase)
According to Wallace research, there are four types of playful adults:

Those who outwardly enjoy fooling around with friends, colleagues, relatives and acquaintances
Those who are generally lighthearted and not preoccupied by the future consequences of their behavior
Those who play with thoughts and ideas
Those who are whimsical, exhibiting interest in strange and unusual things and are amused by small, everyday observations.

What are the benefits of having fun?

The numbers don’t lie… There are numerous benefits both in our personal lives and our work lives. Check it out:

About 72 percent of people—and 75 percent of women—reported better mental health when they have more fun (Chase)
57 percent of people see that having fun has a positive effect on how they feel physically too. (Chase)
When it comes to happiness in the workplace, happiness among employees can result in a 12% productivity increase, while unhappiness can be correlated to a 20% drop in productivity. (Warkwick)

Does having fun affect your health?

Not only is having fun… well, fun, but it also can have a positive impact on your mental and physical health.

Physical benefits:

Fun that entails physical activity has multiple health benefits.When done frequently, it:

Strengthens your heart
Boosts your lung function
Lowers your risk of developing coronary heart disease
Reduces your stress hormones (e.g cortisol and adrenaline) (Ajiboye)

Research also shows that fun recreational and physical activities can naturally balance hormones such as cortisol, insulin, testosterone and estrogen (e.g. Abbenhardt et al., 2013). So, when it comes to exercise, find what makes you happy and build it into your routine. (Robinson)

Mental benefits:

Relieves Stress:

Play helps to relieve stress. When you’re having fun, endorphins, the body's natural feel-good chemicals, are released. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain. (Robinson)

Improves Memory:

According to science, one way to improve our memory and concentration is to have more fun. Partially, this has to do with the stress reduction that happens when we engage in something we enjoy. However, the benefits of fun activities seem to stretch further than that. The British Cohort Study — a study that has been following 17,000 people born in 1970 — found that reading for fun improves our language skills, and more surprisingly our proficiency in math as well. It appears that fun activities that introduce us to new ideas and concepts foster self-directed learning. The rewards we gain from these experiences might expand beyond the obvious benefits. Scientists are now also exploring if reading for fun can also protect us against cognitive decline as we age. (Rucker)

Improves brain function:

Playing chess, completing puzzles, or pursuing other fun activities that challenge the brain can help prevent memory problems and improve brain function. The social interaction of playing with family and friends can also help ward off stress and depression. (Robinson)
Play exercises the brain and can renew neural connections to meet new possibilities (brain hygiene). (Norton)
Play has also been shown to trigger the secretion of BDNF, a substance essential for the growth of brain cells. (Forman)
There is also evidence that play appears to allow our brains to exercise their flexibility, to maintain and our human potential to adapt, to meet any possible set of environmental conditions. — Psychology Today (Norton)

Boosts creativity:

Having fun actually stimulates the mind and boosts creativity. Young children often learn best when they are playing—a principle that applies to adults, as well. You’ll learn a new task better when it’s fun and you’re in a relaxed and playful mood. Play can also stimulate your imagination, helping you adapt and solve problems. (Robinson)

Enhances learning: Dr Laura Kubansky has undertaken research which demonstrates that fun is good for your health. Many influential researchers (Dulay & Burt, 1977; Krashen, 1982) have found evidence that people learn better when they’re feeling strong positive emotions. Science proves it, learning is fun. So take the hint and make your training exciting! (Willis)

Boosts innovation:

Another benefit of play in the workplace is that it can increase levels of innovation. During times of playfulness, our brains are released from zeroing in on problems and tasks and allowed to work in less logical and computational ways. When these less logical pathways in the brain are lighted up, this opens the way for more of these types of ‘leaps of logic’ to occur at other times and around other topics. Ever had a ‘brainwave’ at the most random time? If so, this is probably an example of this exact scenario. (Kickassfacts.com)

How can fun impact your relationships?

Being a fun person can also make people more drawn to you, according to numerous studies. It can aid in making you more attractive, building more friendships and being more approachable to strangers.

It makes you more attractive

Being a playful adult may also make us more attractive to the opposite sex, according to a study from Pennsylvania State University. Researchers there asked 250 students to rate 16 characteristics that they might look for in a long-term mate. “Sense of humor” came in first among the males and second among the females, “fun-loving” came in third for both, and 'being playful’ placed fourth for women and fifth for men. (Wallace)

Enhances your ability to build trust

Research shows that when we have fun with others, these experiences have a positive effect on building trust and developing communication. Having fun gives us an opportunity to connect and be creative. When we laugh together, this sends an external non-verbal message that says: “We are alike, we share values” (Everett, 2011). It can also make us look more vulnerable, but at the same time approachable and friendly, which can help build connections and bonds.

Drs. John and Julie Gottmann, relationship experts from Seattle's Gottman Research Institute, have been studying happy and unhappy couples (and their patterns of behavior) in a systematic way. They found that couples who are happy know how to have fun together. It appears that when we have the ability to create and partake in acts of humor and affection, our conflict resolution skills improve as well. (Rucker)

Build stronger bonds with colleagues

Studies show that fun activities at work can improve our relationships with co-workers. These strong bonds developed with our colleagues have been linked to improved performance and productivity (Kansal, Puja, & Maheshwari, 2012). (Rucker)

Become more approachable

Improve relationships and your connection to others. Sharing laughter and fun can foster empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy with others. Play doesn’t have to include a specific activity; it can also be a state of mind. Developing a playful nature can help you loosen up in stressful situations, break the ice with strangers, make new friends, and form new business relationships. (Robinson)

Do men have more fun than women?

It’s hard to say– traditional gender roles have largely changed in recent years. And while both men and women enjoy having fun, studies show men tend to prioritize it more.

Men prioritize fun more than women

In 2019, the American Time Use Study found that on an average day in 2019, nearly everyone aged 15 and older (95 percent) engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Men spent more time in leisure activities (5.5 hours) than did women (4.9 hours). (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

For women, work life balance is difficult to achieve

For women, personal pleasures seem to be the ﬁrst to be sacriﬁced for work or family. When asked, in a survey, why they don’t exercise, women answered: too tired. The reason women have less time (and maybe more stress) is because they do more of the domestic work than men. (Onstad)

For physical fun, women typically work out while men play sports

When it comes to physical exercise for women, it’s typically categorized as a task more than play. This is because when women do exercise, it’s more likely to be in a class or at a gym than as part of an actual sport — the option to play is rarely on the menu. Why (many) women don’t play sports is a question that’s tangled in some sticky old ideas about masculinity and femininity. In adolescence, there’s the gym class feeling of your body changing in public, under scrutiny; the volleyball smashing your period-swollen belly; playing with boys who never passed, or who made fun of you for how you ran. Aggression and competitiveness — the stuff of sports — remain lauded traits in men; the same behavior is often deemed “bitchiness” in women. (Onstad)

Women don’t feel they have as much fun as they want to

Many women believe men have more fun than they do, with three quarters saying it’s because partners have less responsibility in the home and over half believing it's down to men caring less about what others think of them. And 39 percent say men are more joyful, simply because they have busier social lives, the research by bingo website Jackpotjoy revealed. (Agencies)

Other statistics indicate that

35% of women admit to being boring after getting stuck in a rut with work and social life (London)
Women believe men are more joyful because of good social lives and work (London)
Only one in seven women claims to be the instigator of fun (London)

But it seems personality also has a role to play, with some women admitting they are just too shy to get the party started.

Can having fun affect the workplace?

For most people, working their 9-5 is a means to an end. They show up and get it done– but rarely is it fun. But statistics show that making work environments fun can have numerous benefits not only for employees, but for the organization as a whole.

Reduced burnout:

Adults who play are generally less likely to experience feelings of burn-out at work. Having a regular dose of all those stress-busting brain chemicals is vital if we want to counteract the pressures of work and responsibility. (Kickassfacts.com)

Enhanced productivity:

Having fun also enhances productivity. According to a study conducted in the UK, happiness among employees resulted in a 12% productivity increase (in laboratory conditions), while unhappiness was correlated to a 20% drop in productivity. (Oswald)

Company success:

Implementing adult playtime into company culture is one of the attributed reasons for Google’s almost unparalleled success. One of the easiest ways is to start implementing adult playtime by organizing team building fun-days, breakout games etc. (Kickassfacts.com)

Quotes on having fun:

Sometimes, you just need a really good quote to hit home. Enjoy some of my favorite ‘fun’ quote below:

"If we focus on boosting fun and happiness in our lives, even in little ways, research suggests we can end up more productive, charismatic, energetic, and innovative" — Stanford University Happiness Expert Emma Seppala
“You can be childlike without being childish. A child always wants to have fun. Ask yourself, ‘Am I having fun?'” – Christopher Meloni
“Happiness is living a life having fun, friends, and freedom.” Lorrin L. Lee
“At the end of the day, if I can say I had fun, it was a good day.” – Simone Biles
“Having fun is the best way to learn.” - Albert Einstein
“I am going to keep having fun every day I have left, because there is no other way of life. You just have to decide whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore.” – Randy Pausch
“Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.” – Richard Branson
“In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.”― Gordon B. Hinckley
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”— George Bernard Shaw

Conclusion: Having fun needs to be a priority

There’s no doubt about it— having fun is a necessity that too many adults push off to the side as ‘unimportant.’ As a life coach, this is one of the most common problems my clients face. The worst part is, they have no idea ‘fun’ is what has been missing all along!

If you find yourself in a similar situation, I encourage you to download my free ebook, 30 Minutes In 30 Days: How to Put the Fun Back Into Your Life. This proven seven-step roadmap is an exercise I do with many of my clients to help them put fun back into their lives within 30 days. And of course, if you want a more long-term plan to help fall back in love with your life, I’d love to help. You can set up a free 15-minute consultation with me here.

The Ultimate List of Having Fun Statistics For 2022