Eighty-five percent of Americans believe it’s important to have times when they are completely alone and away from anyone else, according to a recent Pew survey. Another 55 percent believe this is very important while 30 percent say it’s somewhat important.¹

This desire for occasional solitude gives your body and, perhaps more importantly, your mind space and time to just be in the moment, experiencing it with your full attention and focus. It turns out alone time of this sort is highly rewarding.

If you’ve ever hesitated to spend time alone, perhaps believing you won’t enjoy it, a recent study found that people have just as good of a time engaging in fun activities alone as they do when they’re with others. The only down side came when the loners worried about how they would look to others, perhaps appearing they had no one to spend time with.²

This latter issue is easily overcome by positive thinking and directing your focus to your activities at hand and the enjoyment it brings. However, aside from enjoyment, spending time alone offers may additional benefits.

7 Top Benefits of Alone Time

What do you stand to gain simply from spending some “me time” alone? CNN recently compiled numerous benefits:³

1. Boost Creativity

Even though brainstorming is often promoted as the best way to gather ideas, research shows that people who work alone and later pool their ideas actually come up with far more ideas.⁴

2. Work Harder and More Efficiently

Working alone can also prompt you to work more intensely and efficiently, as you know it’s up to you to finish the task and do it well. In a group setting, most people believe they have to put in less effort since more people are involved.

3. Restore Your Energy

This is especially relevant to introverts, who feel social interactions zap their energy. Spending time alone gives you time to recharge your batteries, in a sense, so you can go back into the social scene feeling refreshed and at the top of your game.

4. Meet New People

Ironically, spending time doing activities alone is actually a great opportunity to meet others who share your interests. When you’re alone, you’re far more likely to interact with people around you, including those you may not have struck up a conversation with had you been in other company.

5. Boost Your Mood, Particularly in Teens

For teens, spending some time in solitude had a “positive after effect on emotional state,” and those who spent an intermediate amount of their time alone were better adjusted than those who spent either a little or a great deal of time alone.

The researchers concluded that solitude in adolescence can have a constructive role in daily life and offers “a strategic retreat that complements social experience.”⁵

6. Clear Your Mind

Spending time alone helps your mind to process information and offers time for reflection. As reported by CNN:⁶

“‘Constantly being ‘on’ doesn’t give your brain a chance to rest and replenish itself,’ Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D. wrote in Psychology Today. Being by yourself with no distractions gives you the chance to clear your mind, focus, and think more clearly. It’s an opportunity to revitalize your mind and body at the same time.”⁷

7. Do What You Want

When you’re alone, you can spend the day doing whatever it is you want, without worrying about others desires. So if you love to hike but your partner doesn’t, going alone gives you a chance do something you love, which we all deserve on a regular basis.