5 Best Hobbies to Help Fight Anxiety & Depression

Hobby therapy has recently become an increasingly common treatment for many ailments. While doing what you love, you are temporarily distracted from the daily hustle and bustle, showing your individuality and creativity. All this helps to reduce nervous tension, relieve stress and improve the emotional state. However, these are far from all the positive effects of a hobby.

It’s not about watching TV or reading the latest best-selling literature. This kind of activity, on the contrary, generates feelings of inferiority, anxiety, inner emptiness and can aggravate depression. Creative hobbies, that is, various types of needlework, working with paper or in the backyard have a positive effect on health.

Benefits for health

Handicraft has long been proven to relieve anxiety and help relieve mental stress, thus helping to restore the nervous system. Activities that require concentration and include fine motor skills work the nerve cells in the brain and prevent the development of senile dementia (Alzheimer’s disease).

In addition, during classes with certain types of needlework, acupuncture points are stimulated, which directly affect the state of health. For example, knitting helps to survive severe nervous shocks and prevents the development of depression, improves the condition of kidney and cardiovascular diseases. Crochet is also good for the cardiovascular and nervous system, stimulates the liver and kidneys. For older women, crocheting can help fight multiple sclerosis. Embroidery relieves headaches, relieves nervous tension, and has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the lymphatic and blood vessels. Beading helps to get rid of insomnia, normalizes metabolism and improves concentration, has a positive effect on the respiratory and nervous system. Sewing is useful for arterial hypertension, heart disease, sleep disturbances and headaches.

Any kind of handicraft is good for health, but the main importance is the fact that a person gets a lot of positive emotions from doing what he loves, which prolong his youth, improve his health and mood.

In addition to pleasure and wellness, there are many more facts supporting the hobby.

  • You can start doing any kind of hobby at any age.
  • You can change your hobby if it doesn’t suit you, or you can engage in several types at the same time.
  • You can choose a hobby for “any wallet”: from relatively expensive – knitting, beading, to practically free – crafts made from natural or scrap materials (leaves, cones, roots, plastic bottles).
  • While doing something, you will always have something to talk about with your friends: for example, tell the story of creation and showcase new interesting crafts.
  • If you are lonely, then a hobby will help you find like-minded friends, life will become brighter and more interesting.
  • Hobbies increase self-esteem by being able to admire the results of your work.
  • A handmade gift will bring joy and become a good memory for your friends.
  • Having reached a certain level of skill in any hobby, you can teach this to others, and the sale of crafts will become an additional source of income.
  • The desire to learn something new and create pushes into the background all everyday hardships does not allow to get hung up on troubles and adds vitality.

How to find your hobby

A hobby is an activity that allows you to spend time interesting and useful, gives you pleasure and joy. You should choose what you like. There are many types of activities today, and if traditional knitted scarves, napkins and beads do not inspire you, you can find more modern and less familiar activities. Here are some examples of interesting new hobbies.

1. Quilling

Quilling or paper rolling is the art of creating flat and voluminous compositions using narrow and long strips of coloured paper twisted into spirals. Giving a different shape to the spirals, the main quilling elements are made, from which the compositions are created. This technique is used to make paintings, postcards, albums, photo frames, various figures for the interior, etc.

2. Decoupage

It is a special decoration technique that allows you to decorate almost any surface: ceramics, wood, plastic, paper, glass. The essence of decoupage consists of scrupulous cutting and gluing of elements from paper napkins since the abundance of various patterns on napkins today will satisfy almost any request. To add volume, the elements are outlined with special contours, varnished, etc.

3. Sewing

One of the classic antidepressants. If you need to break away from the world, be alone with yourself, collect your thoughts and just calm your nerves, then this proven, centuries-old method is ideal for you. When the fine motor skills of the hands are in action, it can be easier to collect thoughts without emotional involvement.

4. Gardening  

One of the best-proven hobbies for relaxing and fighting anxiety and depression. You are in the fresh air, connect with nature, creating life! What can be better than that? There are many cultures that you can grow by yourself. If you are more into flowers, make flower beds all over your yard. And if you decide to grow your own vegetables or fruits there will be an additional benefit for your health.  Grab your Hoselink gardening tools and gloves and start right now!

5. Carving

This is the art of curly cutting of vegetables and fruits. Flowers of incredible beauty are cut from pumpkins, carrots, cabbage, watermelon, especially if you raised them in your garden (if you try the previous hobby). Recently, it has become very fashionable to give “bouquets” and fruit baskets made by using this technique. This way, you will help not just your mood, but the mood of your loving ones. Trust us, they will love it!

Conclusion

To master all these interesting activities today is not difficult: there are many educational books, and on the Internet, you can find free courses and masterclasses. In any case, remember that during the depression, the most destructive and terrible thing is doing nothing. Find for yourself what makes you happy. And just do it. You will not even notice how suddenly it becomes easier to breathe and the world will slowly regain its colours again.

Good luck and inspiration to you!

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