Fascinating read on the importance giving downtime to your brain on a regular basis instead of just being extremely busy in the pursuit of your goals. This reminded me of Tom Hodgkinson's book 'How to be Idle' which has mentioned these ideas sans the research (which probably wasn't available).
From the article:"Throughout history people have intuited that such puritanical devotion
to perpetual busyness does not in fact translate to greater productivity
and is not particularly healthy. What if the brain requires substantial
downtime to remain industrious and generate its most innovative ideas?
"Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as
indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of
it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets," essayist
Tim Kreider wrote in The New York Times.
"The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition
for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected
connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of
inspiration—it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done."
Read the rest of the article here.