How you can craft your way to a healthier & happier you

Picking up a new craft will give you authentic handmade additions to your home — and a feel-good high, too, says Roberta Thatcher

15 April 2018 - 00:00 By Roberta Thatcher

Anyone who knows me will know I'm not the most objective person to be writing this article. Obsessed with crochet, knitting, pottery and quilting, I'm what you might call crazy for craft. But that does mean I also know first hand just how amazing its effects can be.
In our crazy, digital era we're constantly connected, and our minds seem to be in overdrive from the minute we wake up. Working with our hands offers the ultimate antidote to push notifications and social media overload, and even if you do this for only 10 or 20 minutes a day, you'll be impressed by how powerful the results can be. 
It's not at all surprising to me that recent studies have found crafting provides mental health benefits. The repetitive mindfulness of knitting, for example, has been likened to meditation. When 3,545 knitters were surveyed online by Betsan Corkhill, a UK-based physiotherapist specialising in neurology, 81% said they felt happier after knitting, and less than 1% remained sad. This study included 300 people diagnosed as clinically depressed.I chatted to Corkhill, who is so passionate about the benefits of knitting that she founded Stitchlinks, an organisation that uses knitting to improve wellbeing. "If you're absorbed in an activity, you have less capacity to pay attention to other things," she says, summing up the reason that losing yourself in a craft is so beneficial. "Craft is a very powerful distractant from thoughts or activities that could be detrimental to your wellbeing."
Over and above this, Corkhill says that knitting releases serotonin, which enhances your mood and calms you, acting as a powerful analgesic.
For Corkhill, creativity is extremely important for wellbeing and psychological flexibility. "If you're thinking creatively you have more options open to you," she says. "When we're very busy, ill or stressed, we tend to go down to a narrower and narrower focus - we can only think about our busyness or our deadlines, and we lose our ability to see widely and creatively."Crafting can help us to overcome these stress-related symptoms such as anxiety, panic, insomnia and depression, by letting us sink into a meditative-like state. "Learning mindfulness takes a huge amount of commitment and process," says Corkhill, "whereas you can achieve it as a natural side-effect, through knitting, or similar crafts."
It's no wonder then that craft has been dubbed the "new yoga". So, if you're looking for a non-medicinal feel-good high, that will leave you with beautiful items to fill your home and gifts to friends and family, why not pick up a new craft today?
WHERE TO LEARN HOW TO CRAFT ONLINE
CRAFTSY
Craftsy is an online platform that delivers crafts education, from quilting and knitting to cake decorating and paper craft, via high-definition interactive video tutorials and downloadable workshops.
SKILLSHARE
A monthly subscription to Skillshare will give you unlimited access to over 19,000 classes, and while the topics are not limited to craft, the lifestyle section includes videos on sewing, water-colours, knitting, macrame and more. 
CREATIVE LIVE
With courses on everything from making your own bath products to hand lettering and pattern design, Creative Live is a great resource for in-depth tutorials.
YOUTUBE
Undoubtedly the best place to search for videos, YouTube is a goldmine of short and specific tutorials, and you can find everything from mastering the single crochet stitch to how to centre your clay on a wheel. The best part? All the content is free...

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