People Who Knit And Crochet Lead Happier Lives, Says Study
Zone out while you knit.
zhukovvvlad / Shutterstock Do you like arts and crafts? Well if you don’t have a positive answer to say about them, it turns out that your daily life might actually be more stressful than someone who does.
In fact, as it turns out, a study has found that people who participate in arts and crafts feel “happier, calmer, and more energetic” than those who don’t participate in these arts.
What exactly is so soothing about it, and which activities are the best to calm your shot nerves after a long day? According to researchers, some of the best calm-down crafts included: cooking, baking, performing music, painting, drawing, digital design, creative writing, knitting, crocheting, and jam-making.
These crafts are great at getting your creative juices flowing and relaxing you, giving your brain some much-needed time to zone out of your stressors and just focus on having a bit of fun instead.
Try not to get too focused on your crafts that actually leads to more stress. If that starts to happen, try to remember that this is something you need to keep practicing at, and it's supposed to be a calming activity.
“There is growing recognition in psychology research that creativity is associated with emotional functioning,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Tamlin Connor. “Engaging in creative behavior leads to increases in well-being the next day, and this increased well-being is likely to facilitate creative activity on the same day.”
The study was published in the Journal of Positive Psychology and revealed that students who engaged in these calming exercises were more enthusiastic and happier on the days after they’d taken part in the arts and crafts.
The findings also showed that being creative was actually good for your emotional and mental health, and helped to cultivate “positive psychological functioning,” which is very good news at the end of such a tumultuous year.
All that time spent in quarantine, looking at random Youtube videos might have finally paid off. Take the time to learn guitar and try to seduce your crush like it's an 80's movie. Learn how to sew so you can recreate your favorite looks from your favorite 80's movies.
So the next time you’re looking to take a break and get your head back together, don’t zone out in front of the TV. Choose a creative activity instead! It will lead to you being calmer, happier, and overall more pumped about your life in the days to come.
And maybe you might even just find that you have a talent for one of the crafts you picked up. I'm gonna take this new study and try to learn French. I haven't been successful the last 5 times I tried it, but sixth times the charm.
M. Najjar has been a YourTango contributor since 2016.