There’s a thin line between downtime and wasting time.
We’re surrounded with statistics and stories about how we’re all overscheduled and underslept. “Busy-ness,” described as both a virtue and an epidemic, inspires countless blog posts and a healthy number of books.
Experts warn parents and educators against overscheduling children, whose growing minds and bodies need downtime to develop in every field — social, emotional, academic and physical. But we don’t spend as much energy defending unstructured time for adults.
“There’s a misunderstanding with downtime,” says Shimi Kang, a Harvard-trained child and adult psychiatrist.
“It sounds a little ridiculous to say you prioritize rest,” she says. “People judge you as not very ambitious, not very competitive.”
In truth, Kang says, restorative downtime is critical for our mental and physical health.
“Breaks are moments of breakthroughs,” Kang says. “Certain biological processes occur only during moments of relaxed wakefulness, when the brain’s default-mode (预设模式) network becomes activated.”
Productivity, problem-solving, attention, creativity, a moral compass — all are strengthened and improved when our bodies have a chance to rest, Kang says.
“A time of relaxed wakefulness is when we integrate what we’ve felt or heard,” she says. “It’s when we make sense of our past and apply it to our future, so our sense of morality and our sense of self are shown to improve.”
But all downtime is not created equal, says time use expert Laura Vanderkam. “There’s a big difference between consciously doing nothing versus actually wasting time,” Vanderkam says. “Wasting time is spending it on things that aren’t particularly meaningful or even enjoyable to you.”
“You want to make sure downtime is doing what it’s supposed to do, which makes you return to your busy life more refreshed,” Vanderkam says.
Her patients often tell her they don’t have time to build rest into their lives, Kang says.
“I tell people, then you’re too busy for best health,” she says. “You’re too busy to perform best. Too busy to be brilliant, to be the best athlete, to be the best CEO, writer, homemaker — whatever it is you’re trying to achieve. Because you need rest to do all of those things.”
58. The underlined word “unstructured” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ________.
A. travelling B. relaxing C. precious D. perfect
59. Downtime differs from waste time in that it makes people ________.
A. spend more time on relaxing B. have a good understanding of the past
C. improve efficiency in work or study D. have a full schedule for the future
60. What’s the purpose of the last paragraph?
A. To indicate the consequence of being too busy.
B. To analyze why people fail to become successful.
C. To advise people to spare time to relax themselves.
D. To urge people to apply themselves to achieving goals.
61. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Downtime can result in a person lacking motivation.
B. It’s generally unacceptable if people regard rest as high priority.
C. Being hardworking is no longer a virtue in society nowadays.
D. “Busy-ness” damages people both emotionally and physically.