Do you ever catch yourself daydreaming and feel guilty for wasting time or not being as productive as you might’ve hoped? If so, you’ll likely be relieved to learn that straying from your focused efforts for a short time may be a sign of a more efficient brain. Even more, daydreaming can inspire your creativity, improve your working memory, and may even bring you additional benefits.

Scientists describe daydreaming as a “short-term detachment from one’s immediate surroundings.”

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This may involve fantasies, blurring reality, or entertaining optimistic thoughts or hopes about the future. When you’re daydreaming, you might feel like you’re literally “letting your mind wander” — or even be self-aware enough to realize that you’re “zoning out.”

Because of this, some people believe daydreaming is a bad habit.

A 2017 study, however, found the opposite to be true. Eric Schumacher, a psychology professor from the Georgia Institute of Technology who led the research, explained to The Independent that daydreaming actually correlates with brain capacity — and those who daydream actually have brains that work faster and can avoid distraction better than once thought.

“People with efficient brains may have too much brain capacity to stop their minds from wandering when performing easy tasks,” Schumacher said.

Your brain might be extra efficient if you’re able to drift in and while managing your regular responsibilities or having a conversation and taking notes about important details. If you catch yourself daydreaming right after learning something new, that could be another clue.

“Our findings remind me of the absent-minded professor — someone who’s brilliant, but off in his or her own world, sometimes oblivious to their own surroundings,” said Schumacher. “Or school children who are too intellectually advanced for their classes. While it may take five minutes for their friends to learn something new, they figure it out in a minute, then check out and start daydreaming.”

When you daydream, you’re using your mind, not your brain.

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According to Cognitive scientist Anthony Jack from Case Western Reserve University, it all happens in the brain — not your mind. InBeyond the Brain, published by National Geographic, he explains: “When confronted with a cognitive task, your brain requires the empathetic area to turn off to get the job done. Your brain naturally fluctuates in certain ways because of its structure, and that determines the structure of your daydreaming.”

“We tend of think of our minds in the driving seat and our brain activity as following,” Jack was quoted as saying. Turns out, though, that works both ways: As you learn new things, the connections between nerve cells in your brain change; when you daydream, your mind runs through varied thought patterns.

Daydreaming has science-backed benefits.

Cycling through thinking modes might seem “scattered” for those who are unable to do it without missing a beat, but daydreamers with faster brains can get a boost from some science-backed mental health benefits:

• Working memory: A 2012 study conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain science (along with researchers from the University of Wisconsin) shows that a “wandering mind” correlates with higher degrees of working memory
• Increased creativity: Schumacher’s study showed that participants who shared frequent daydreaming saw higher test scores when measured for intellectual and creative abilities
• Brain resource management: In addition to working memory, using brain resources for daydreaming requires humans to train themselves to focus on what’s in front of them. “This takes resources,” researcher Jonathan Smallwood was quoted inSmithsonian Magazine. “You get to decide how you want to use your resources. If your priority is to keep attention on a task, you can use working memory to do that, too.”

Does your daydreaming prevents productivity, last for long periods of time, or interrupt you from absorbing or retaining important information? If so, it might be time to talk to an expert. Maladaptive daydreaming is a known psychiatric condition that causes daydreams so intense that it can be hard to stop, and may make completing tasks difficult, or completely overpower reality.

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