If you are struggling with chronic stress or high blood pressure, you should consider getting a DIY hobby. Arts and crafts hobbies and other DIY projects that engage you creatively naturally boost your mood and help improve your overall well-being. Indeed, researchers found that people who participate in creative activities daily are more enthusiastic and feel better the next day, and those positive feelings prompt them to be more creative on the same day.
Overall, people who engage in creative DIY projects flourish, and researchers say that daily creativity is one way to promote positive psychological functions. Still not convinced that you should take the time to pursue a DIY hobby? Read on for a few tips and more information to help you get started.
DIY Hobbies Improve Your Mental Health
Stress, anxiety, and depression take a toll on your mind and body. One way to give your mind the break it needs is to take up a creative hobby. Studies show that DIY projects have the power to boost your attention span and motivation, because you learn how to do a new skill and divert your attention from negative thoughts to a positive task.
Participating in a DIY hobby also helps you focus on completing a project, so you keep your mind busy by focusing on the steps required to create something instead of thinking about your problems. Better yet, you gain a sense of accomplishment and boost your self-esteem when you complete a DIY project.
Creative Projects are Akin to Meditation
Experts say crafting helps people who struggle with anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. Creative projects also reduce stress and increase feelings of happiness in addition to protecting the brain from aging-related damage. From completing a crossword puzzle to quilting a complex pattern, people experience cognitive benefits from creative hobbies. Creative time, like meditation, reduces stress, combats inflammation and gives both your body and mind a break.
People who pursue hobbies -- such as quilting, sewing, painting, sculpting, cooking, drawing, or other activities that allow them to get creative -- are reaping physical and mental benefits. They are in the flow, and lose themselves in an activity that absorbs them and helps them pass the time in a healthy way without feeling stressed or anxious. These meditative-like states help people feel happy and live more fully, because they’re spending time doing something they love and forgetting about the outside world and their problems for a short time.
Start with Repetitive Crafts
Repetitive craft projects, such as quilting and knitting, have a calming effect on the mind and body. These types of DIY crafts help you concentrate on the task at hand without requiring you to expend a great deal of energy thinking and analyzing; the break this provides your brain is a form of distraction that keeps you busy enough to forget your problems for a bit. Your mind won’t race, and you won’t feel anxious or stressed when you engage in these types of creative projects.
Pursue More Complicated DIY Projects When You Want to Challenge Yourself
Challenging yourself with DIY projects is another way to foster creativity and help you improve your overall well-being. Pursuing DIY projects can enhance your problem-solving skills and improve your self-esteem as you successfully complete increasingly complex projects. When you push yourself, you learn more about how talented you are, and you gain a new sense of self-respect.
One challenging DIY hobby that more people are beginning to pursue is woodworking. Thanks in part to Pinterest and HGTV, DIY woodworking has become a popular hobby for people from all walks of life. You may want to build an outdoor swing, a new kitchen table, or a custom desk after taking on a few basic projects. Similarly, if your home needs a new coat of paint, you could take it on as a DIY project after tackling a smaller project like painting a shed. After all, a professional paint job can cost as much as $7,500; if you’re able to save this expense by doing it on your own, you’ll be even prouder of yourself.
Pursuing a DIY hobby is an ideal way to improve your mental and physical health because you increase your positive feelings and reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Hobbies foster creativity, relaxation, and other benefits for the body and mind, and you’ll learn new skills that you can enjoy for years to come.
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