Remember the kid who always got caught daydreaming in class? I sure do. They got in heaps of trouble from scornful teachers who were concerned they weren’t absorbing enough information. After all, they wouldn’t amount to anything by spending their days with their head in the clouds.

But what if I told you a few minutes spent lost in thought can actually help you absorb information? Maybe boost your creativity or help you get more sleep at night? That it could even make your spouse like you a little bit more?

Even if you are a daydreamer, I bet you’re paying attention now.

In a society obsessed with multi-tasking and cramming as many activities as possible into each and every day, idle time is the enemy. However, studies continue to prove there are some real upsides of downtime past the obvious, like lowering stress and making you a happier person. (Not to undervalue those things, they’re important too!)

The Science Behind It

Lying in bed at night with a racing mind sometimes makes us wish we could turn our brain off. Neuroscientists have discovered it’s just not possible. Brain scans show we’re always on. Our resting brain consumes about one-fifth of the energy produced by our body while a cognitive task, like solving a math problem or reading, only requires five to 10 percent more energy to complete.

There are always plenty of fireworks going off in our head thanks to the default mode network (DMN), an area of the brain that springs to life when our mind is otherwise inactive. The DMN has been linked to the essential mental processes that develop our understanding, ethics and identity.

Considering this, it makes sense that some of our best ideas come to us while we’re performing mundane tasks. You may have chalked up that “Eureka!” moment you had while taking a shower to coincidence when in reality, your epiphany likely came about as a result of the DMN activity during your downtime.

“While it is commonly assumed that the best way to solve a difficult problem is to relentlessly focus, this clenched state of mind comes with a hidden cost: it inhibits the sort of creative connections that lead to breakthroughs,” wrote author Jonah Lehrer, in his book Imagine: How Creativity Works.

“We suppress the very type of brain activity that should be encouraged.”

Memory Consolidation

Short-term memory is just that. Lasting 20 to 30 seconds, the information needs to be cemented to stay with us. Enter downtime: it gives the brain a chance to memorize what it has learned, capture it in our mind and ditch old, irrelevant information at the same time. The more neurons communicate with each other, the stronger the connection formed.

In one experiment, rats exploring a maze were monitored for brain activity. When the rat entered a new environment, the brain activity in a specific region increased. Later, when the rat was at rest, the activity picked back up in the same set of neurons, leading researchers to believe the rat was consolidating the information by building new pathways.

Increasing your ability to retain information may be as simple as scheduling regular breaks into your work day to meditate or allow your thoughts to float aimlessly. Keeping an organized to-do list can also help unclutter your brain and prevent you from being overwhelmed by what is on your plate. We can only absorb so much information, making it essential to free up space for the really important stuff.

Time vs Energy

Journalist-turned-visionary business coach Tony Schwartz has a unique take on how to boost employee productivity, one that has been adopted by some of the world’s largest corporations including Google, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Bank of America.

Instead of simply working more hours in an effort to complete more tasks, he preaches a greater focus on sustainable work practices, specifically the need to switch between spending and renewing energy.

“To effectively reenergize their workforces, organizations need to shift their emphasis from getting more out of people to investing more in them, so they are motivated – and able – to bring more of themselves to work every day,” said Schwartz in a Harvard Business Review column. “To recharge themselves, individuals need to recognize the costs of energy-depleting behaviors and then take responsibility for changing them, regardless of the circumstances they’re facing.”

Schwartz uses the example of a stressed out, overworked Ernst & Young partner who made some methodical changes to his routine: he started leaving his desk for lunch and twice-daily walks, quit drinking, went to bed earlier and added an early morning exercise routine. Though some of these activities took time out of his day, he got more done at the office because of his renewed outlook. As his anxiety lifted, his home life also improved and he was able to better engage with his family.

Don’t Resist. Recharge

Spending a week away on a sunny beach is a great break, but the effects aren’t always long lasting. For your brain to truly benefit from downtime, it needs to become a regular practice. So next time you feel your mind beginning to wander, don’t fight it. Allow yourself to spend a few minutes in the clouds and see where you end up. As Edgar Allan Poe wrote, “Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

Sweet daydreams, friends.