The Healing Power of Play
A Four-Part Strategy for Stress, Inflammation & Blood Sugar Balance
Reclaiming Play as a Health Habit
When was the last time you truly played? Not for productivity. Not for performance. Just for joy?
Somewhere along the road to adulthood, we traded play for checklists and hustle. But the truth is: play isn’t just a luxury or a guilty pleasure—it’s a powerful and overlooked tool for healing.
Play can regulate stress, lower inflammation, and even support blood sugar balance. This month, as we embrace play as our July intention, I’m sharing a four-part strategy to show you how joyful, unstructured time can become one of the most impactful additions to your wellness routine.
Part 1: Play and Stress — Nervous system Medicine
Play invites you out of survival mode and into safety. It pulls you from your “fight or flight” response and gently activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping your body access rest, repair, and digestion.
The science backs it up:
Laughter alone lowers cortisol and epinephrine while boosting mood-regulating neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.
Playful physical activity improves heart rate variability, a key marker of nervous system health.
Social play builds oxytocin, the “bonding hormone,” which calms stress and promotes connection.
Play that soothes your stress response might look like:
Dancing in the kitchen
Getting on the floor with your kids (or dog!)
Jumping in the pool without tracking laps
Painting without Pinterest pressure
Playing a silly game just for fun
Part 2: Play and Inflammation — a joyful disrupter
Play lowers inflammation not just by reducing stress hormones—but by engaging systems that actively protect you from chronic disease.
According to a 2015 study in the journal PNAS, higher levels of psychological well-being (including joy, purpose, and playfulness) are associated with lower levels of inflammatory markers like IL-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP).¹
Other research has found that laughter reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines,² making play quite literally an anti-inflammatory activity.
So while green juice and supplements have their place, don’t underestimate the power of:
Belly laughing with friends
Playing tag or tossing a frisbee
Wandering a farmers market with no agenda
Resting without guilt
Part 3: Play and Blood Sugar — stabilizing through joy
Blood sugar balance isn’t just about what you eat. It’s also about how your body metabolizes energy—and play helps optimize that in several ways.
When we play, we often:
Move our bodies (which helps muscles use glucose more efficiently)
Regulate our nervous system (which reduces cortisol-driven glucose spikes)
Improve sleep quality (which is essential for insulin sensitivity)
Some actionable ways to use play to support blood sugar:
Go for a casual after-dinner walk (ideally barefoot in the grass!)
Dance while cooking instead of scrolling your phone
Join your kids in a spontaneous bike ride or soccer game
Play a game that gets you up and moving instead of reaching for a late-night snack
Remember, movement doesn’t have to be structured to be effective—it just needs to be enjoyable.
Part 4: the courage to be silly — let kids be your teachers
Children don’t ask if play is productive. They don’t schedule it or stress about it. They just…do it. Freely. Frequently. Fully.
One of the most powerful reminders you’ll get this summer may come from a tiny voice saying, “Wanna play with me?”
Your challenge? Say yes.
When you let go of the excuses—too busy, too tired, too adult—you’ll tap into a kind of vitality that no supplement can provide. Even ten minutes of playful presence can shift your nervous system, lower stress, reduce inflammation, and improve your blood sugar response.
So the next time your kid, niece, nephew, or neighbor invites you to play—accept the invitation. It may be the most healing thing you do all day.
final thought — joy is medicine
Health isn't just about green smoothies and workouts—it's about connection, fun, movement, spontaneity, and the freedom to feel like yourself again.
This summer, let joy be part of your protocol. Not because it's frivolous. But because it's foundational.
Want to Make Healthy Living Simpler (and More Joyful)?
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¹ Fredrickson, B. L., et al. “A functional genomic perspective on human well-being.” PNAS 2015.
² Berk, L. S., et al. “Laughter decreases serum cortisol, epinephrine, and dopac.” The FASEB Journal, 2001.
