A new study has found if yours are ‘maladaptive’ they can risk your mental health – so what does it say that mine are of death, illness and vengeance?
There’s something else for us to worry about (definitely what this summer was lacking): daydreaming. According to the New Scientist, the pleasant reverie in which you imagine yourself in the Desert Island Discs studio modestly explaining your myriad achievements to Lauren Laverne might be bad for you.
“Normal” daydreaming is still fine: it fosters creative and lateral thinking, and letting the mind wander could enhance our capacity to learn. But when daydreams prevent you from engaging with life and interfere with your ability to make and maintain relationships, work or learn, researchers call them “maladaptive”.
Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
