Make sure you take time to rest and reflect -- new research shows it's important for our well-being.
The review of studies, published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, shows that "resting" our brains -- a.k.a daydreaming -- is linked with improvements in self-awareness, learning and memory.
"We focus on the outside world in education and don't look much at inwardly focused reflective skills and attentions," study researcher Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a professor of education, psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California, said in a statement. "But inward focus impacts the way we build memories, make meaning and transfer that learning into new contexts."
Researchers said that while "outward attention" -- like what a person might learn and put into practice in a classroom -- is important, we also need a healthy balance of reflection and daydreaming time.
Earlier this year, a study in the journal Psychological Science showed that having a wandering mind could actually be a good thing.
That research suggested that people whose minds wander during simple tasks may actually have a higher capacity for working memory. Working memory is what enables us to think about multiple things at once, and has been linked with intelligence (such as IQ score and reading comprehension).