Crafting, cooking from scratch, coloring books for all ages, and home gardening are all being touted as antidotes to stress and the overall pressures of daily life. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, these DIY activities put us in a state of “flow” where we are feeling more relaxed, confident, and happy. One large-scale study of knitters found that participants experienced improved concentration, memory and cognitive abilities. While the therapeutic benefits of crafting remain hard to measure and are based on individual self-reporting, it is clear that these activities can positively affect mental health and contribute to the overall quality of people’s lives.

Key Takeaways:

• A study of people who knit showed many psychosocial benefits, including less anxiety and heightened cognitive abilities.
• Patients hospitalized for anorexia nervosa became less preoccupied with their eating disorder once they began knitting.
• People can choose whether to craft alone or with others; each choice has benefits.

“Knitting, basket weaving, and other craft activities were commonplace in the repatriation support offered throughout much of the English-speaking world to the returned veterans of the two world wars.”

Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/how-craft-is-good-for-our-health-20180727-p4ztyh.html