How doing nothing can improve mental health, as Hong Kong ‘space-out’ event aimed to show

The International Space-Out Competition seeks to highlight how sitting still and doing nothing can improve mental health and lower stress

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Education psychologist Denis Kwan (centre) takes part in the International Space-Out Competition 2024 in Hong Kong, at PMQ in Central, with more than 70 other participants. The event invites people to sit and do nothing for 90 minutes, highlighting how this can benefit mental health and lower stress. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 11:15am, 13 Oct 2024Updated: 11:17am, 13 Oct 2024

It is 3pm on a Saturday and I am in Hong Kong’s Central business district. Fully aware of the dozens of different things that I could be doing, I take my shoes off and sit on a yoga mat laid out in the courtyard at PMQ. I am not here for yoga, though.

Around me are more than 70 Hongkongers of different ages and ethnicities who have also decided to spend 90 minutes of their precious weekend time doing nothing but space out.

That is exactly the point of the International Space-Out Competition 2024. The rules are simple. You sit and do nothing. Talking, sleeping or moving excessively will disqualify you.

To win requires maintaining a steady low heart rate, measured every 15 minutes, and attracting enough spectators’ votes. They pick a favourite based on the contestant’s reasons for taking part and on their spacing out “performance”. The prize is a free flight to South Korea, where the competition started in 2014.

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Space-Out competition in Hong Kong attracts dozens to sit still and do nothing for 90 minutes

The quirky contest is one of many South Korean cultural exports that have gained international popularity in recent years. When the competition was held for the first time on the grass lawn in front of Seoul’s city hall in 2014, no one could have foreseen that it would draw so much global attention and go on to take place in cities including Beijing, Tokyo, Taipei and Rotterdam.

Hong Kong has developed a particular enthusiasm for the competition. It is the second time it has been held in the city; the first was in 2018 at AIA Vitality Park on the Central Harbourfront. This year, the Korean Cultural Centre is hosting the competition as part of its annual “Festive Korea” cultural festival.