Guilty about Your Guilty Pleasures? Don’t Be!

Grab that pack of potato chips and binge watch that Netflix series – science tells us that these guilty pleasures, like eating junk food or watching TV, are actually good for your mental health!

According to research, indulging in guilty pleasures is how we give our brain a much-needed rest (which is probably why you’re craving cake after a long day and a well-deserved massage at the end of the week). Guilty pleasures increase positive emotions and reduce negative ones as we give in to these things that make us happy. And when you engage in guilty pleasures, you are in a way breaking the rules – and there’s a sense of mischief or accomplishment in getting away with your guilty pleasures.

Which is great news especially if you’ve been feeling guilty for enjoying some things in life when you feel you shouldn’t. Why shy away from the fact that you did absolutely nothing at all over the weekend but browse your favourite gossip sites? We often feel that whatever free time we have left should be done doing things that improve our mind or enrich our lives but who’s to say that your guilty pleasures don’t. After all, what’s so wrong about engaging in activities that bring us joy, even if they seem trivial or unnecessary.

And you know what, your mental health will thank you for it. Guilty pleasures give us a break from the routine stresses and pressures of daily life. It also makes us more connected to ourselves, much like the me-time you always read about. Eating chocolate may ruin your diet but if every bite brings you happiness, that’s more important than losing just 1kg from not eating cake at all. So long as you’re not eating cake every day!

What’s also important to know is that guilty pleasures don’t have to be grand and expensive. So your guilty pleasures don’t have to be online shopping or going on a holiday every month; it can be something as simple as playing Connections when you’re supposed to be finishing up your report or just browsing Pinterest for interior inspirations.

But wait – before you go all out with your guilty pleasures – too much of a guilty good thing can be bad. It’s the same with everything else where too much of anything is never great. If you’re binge-watching instead of catching up on your sleep or if you’re eating a lot of chocolate that you know is wrong, maybe you should ask yourself if there's more going on underneath the surface. Maybe your guilty pleasure is a way of you trying to avoid something? Or are you feeling completely drained that you just don’t have the energy to do anything else?

The important thing you need to remember about guilty pleasure is this: There’s nothing wrong with that little bit of indulgence that involves you feeling good, better, and hopeful about everything – it contributes to your overall relaxation and wellbeing. If a chick flick or a feel-good comedy makes life a little easier to navigate, by all means enjoy it!

Photo by Carles Rabada on Unsplash.