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How you spend your time outside the office matters to your health and well-being. Having a hobby you enjoy, whether it is learning a new skill, spending time outdoors, or doing something relaxing, can improve your mental health in many ways.
By Natasha Tanic.
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According to research, engaging in hobbies can reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance your overall sense of well-being. In addition, hobbies can help you relax and unwind from your daily routine.
Also, group activities can help you meet new people and that can improve your communication skills, and develop a sense of belonging.
Leisure Activities Can Lower Stress and Anxiety
Stress is natural and helpful in small amounts, as it motivates us to perform better.
However, excessive or prolonged stress can harm your health as constantly increased stress hormone levels don’t allow your body and mind to recover and recuperate.
Instead, you engage in rumination, which produces even more stress, putting you in a bad mood and damaging your health. Research shows that hobbies can reduce stress, helping break the rumination cycle.
I found that continued exposure to stress at work has weakened my coping strategies, causing me to feel anxious and insecure.
Painting classes on Wednesday evenings helped me deal better with stress at work and home, let go of ruminations and be more optimistic.
However, nothing makes a change to my anxiety and stress like cooking!
Searching for tasty and healthy recipes and experimenting in the kitchen not only helps feed my family healthily but also enormously reduces my stress and anxiety levels.
Hobbies Can Improve Sleep Patterns
Studies show that people who engage in hobbies sleep better. Relaxing pursuits such as yoga, mindfulness meditation, or Pilates can help you feel more relaxed and fall asleep more easily.
Research demonstrates that relaxing hobbies help increase the production of GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter that creates a calming effect in the brain.
I found out that practicing mindfulness exercise instead of scrolling through social media on my phone before bed could lower my heart rate and help me feel less anxious, allowing me to transition to sleep more easily.
Hobbies Can Boost Happiness
Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, hormones that make us naturally feel happy and relaxed.
Participating in enjoyable activities, whether on my own or with family and friends, improves my life satisfaction, sense of purpose, and happiness.
In addition, sports activities, spending time in nature, or going for walks always help me manage anxiety and improve my mood.
Hobbies Can Improve Work-Life Balance
Enjoyable outlets outside of work can help strike a work-life balance, improving your work performance, productivity, and satisfaction. In addition, studies show that hobbies improve creativity and problem-solving skills at work.
Working long hours or being exposed to ongoing stress at work can take its toll on your mental and physical health.
Being a psychologist comes with a lot of professional stress for me.
Hobbies help me relax and experience more gratitude.
For example, spending a weekend in nature after a stressful week at work helps me feel more fulfilled and happier.
Also, the pleasure I feel enjoying my outdoor hobbies simply spills over, helping me stay better motivated and focused at work the following week.
Spending time on hobbies is often linked with meeting new people and developing a diverse social network.
And we know that spending time with friends and people who share our interests can boost our mood, increase happiness, and improve our health.
Sharing activities that you enjoy with others can help you get away from feeling alone, give you a sense of acceptance and support, and help you feel better about yourself and your worth.
The happiest people are those who make others happy.
Why is that? Because giving can increase optimism and happiness.
So, consider volunteering to make a difference to people in your community and improve your sense of purpose and satisfaction.
Summary
Leisure activities can have multiple benefits for our mental health and well-being. The most significant advantages of hobbies include:
- Stress and anxiety reduction
- Better sleep
- Increased happiness
- Improved work-life balance
- Enriched social life
I have engaged in various hobbies for as long as I can remember.
There has always been a favorite pastime for me, from caring for pets and playing sports to painting and taking dance classes.
Growing up, hobbies helped me become more self-confident and easy-going. Spending my free time doing things I love today helps strike a good balance between my work and life.
In addition, it allows me to spend quality time with my family, meet exciting people, and laugh a lot.
And what more could one ask for?
Photo by hobo_018