Think for a moment about the activities you do in your spare time, those you resort to to distract yourself and disconnect from your routine. Perhaps now that he analyzes it, he did not have an established action for these moments, but did what was easiest at the moment or what caught his attention: read the book of the month, watch the television series that is in fashion, or go out to walk with your pet. However, hobbies are important in our lives because in addition to distracting us, they provide benefits to physical and mental health.
Like other human activities, hobbies are promoted by a number of interpersonal, biological, economic, and temporal factors. For example, they are selected in relation to individual situations such as age, sex, health, context and personality, explain Mónica González and Minerva Vanegas-Farfano in the document Hobbies and their effects on stress management and burnout from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Some people think that the hobbies they are a waste of time, since they are so busy with their chores that they consider that they cannot dedicate a few hours a week to some activity that relaxes and satisfies them in body and soul. These types of recreational activities became more relevant during the confinement due to covid-19, since being at home most of us resorted to them to make full and productive use of the hours of the day that we used to spend on the street .
Importance of hobbies
“I remember that when I finished my routine during the week, I was looking for what to do so I wouldn’t think that I was locked up. Sure, it was for my well-being, but sometimes it’s hard to make our minds understand what’s best for us, so I resorted to reading. I think I read a book a week, then I got bored of doing the same thing. On weekends I would read for a while and then I would go to the garden to see that my plants were healthy, to water and prune them, that is how I started my hobby”, says Josseline Contreras, life coach.
For the professional, being in her garden is a reminder that nature clears our minds and teaches us “that no matter what the weather is like or the circumstances around us, with time, care and dedication we can flourish again.”
Other people have made their passions their hobbies, for example, taking pictures, playing an instrument, writing, dancing or playing a sport. “Perhaps for a public accountant or an engineer their hobby is playing the guitar or practicing ballroom dancing, activities that we would think are not related to their profession, but they are actions that relax them, encourage creativity and activate areas of their brain that are not they use daily. That is the objective of this type of activity”, adds Contreras.
González and Vanegas-Farfano believe that, although the reasons why a hobby is integrated into daily life are multiple, the most common are the search for pleasant experiences such as relaxation, zest for life, happiness, personal growth and social interaction. In recent years, studies on the benefits of free-time activities have included academic achievement and physical activity.
Although they are activities that provide freedom from daily obligations, in order for them to bring happiness or satisfaction to the person, they have to be carried out with a certain degree of seriousness and commitment. For example, activities that demand a certain degree of absorption and challenge provide greater satisfaction than those that at some point become boring or that are perceived as “less serious.” Those that involve an intellectual stimulus are also better, since they allow emotional and cognitive improvements, the authors indicate.
benefits of hobbies
Regardless of the reasons why an activity has been chosen as a hobby, when it is carried out constantly, it presents benefits in increasing self-esteem, creativity, patience, improving mood and social life, combating stress and preventing certain diseases because the mind is kept busy in actions that are not related to routine problems.
Here are some hobbies from the experts that will help your mental health. “Ideally, before choosing one, analyze if you are looking for a specific benefit. For example, relax, increase your inner peace or be more creative and then think if this activity will help you. You can also try and let the experience be what makes you decide”, says Carolina Herrera, a clinical psychologist.
Puzzles and gardening: increases patience and motivation
When you put together a puzzle, regardless of the number of pieces, you experience a sense of satisfaction and pride when you see the finished work, because despite the moments of frustration you had while putting it together, you did it. This game promotes patience, since it requires a lot of concentration, to think about the characteristics of the pieces to locate the one that must be placed. It also helps to enhance cognitive and emotional abilities related to spatial abilities, to observe and sharpen the senses so that the mind focuses only on the “here and now”.
Read more | Why taking care of plants at home helps emotionally and what has made the taste for this practice grow
Gardening also reduces stress and promotes patience, because you have to wait a certain amount of time to see the results of your work. Taking care of a plant or cultivating your own garden invites you to practice observation, kindness and self-confidence. These activities also require you to focus only on the present, making them useful distraction tools when experiencing bouts of sadness, depression, or boredom.
Sewing and cooking: promote creativity
These two activities encourage creativity and self-knowledge, in addition to helping you focus on only one thing when your mind is very scattered. The clinical psychologist indicates that sewing is a positive pastime in the control of emotions because it reduces anxiety and increases attention, calculation and spatial perception.
While the kitchen helps distract and promotes freedom, since each person can prepare a dish as they wish. Likewise, it invites you to take risks and get to know yourself better because you will probably try ingredients that at some point did not convince you. With these two hobbies you will never get bored, because your creativity will be the limit.
Writing and listening to music: explore emotions
Writing, either for oneself or for others to read, works to accept emotions that we often refuse to explore, but when placed on paper they invite us to analyze and accept them. It is also beneficial to process thoughts that we try to go unnoticed, in addition, it helps to be creative and remove from our minds everything that is unnecessary and only causes discomfort.
Music also regulates anxiety and stress levels because it distracts the mind and promotes emotional well-being. Just think for a moment about what you feel when you listen to your favorite song, that feeling is the one that benefits your mental health.
Organize and plan: increase peace of mind and eliminate stress
“Many people believe that organizing and cleaning cannot be a hobby, but for those who have high levels of anxiety and stress, finding a tidy place has a positive impact on their mind. It generates mental well-being for them and, if they took care of order and cleanliness, it will give them the feeling of being able to control their environment”, says Herrera.
Organizing and planning is also a good exercise to let go of what only takes up space. If, during your free time, you organize your closet, you will probably find clothes that you no longer wear but that you want to keep keeping, this will only take up space, so it is best to throw it away. “The same happens with many memories or sensations that do not leave us with anything positive. If we were able to throw away those pants that we loved so much, we can also do it with our feelings”, says the life coach.
Making repairs on your own: increases self-esteem and reduces stress
The more complex the challenge we set ourselves, the greater our satisfaction when completing it. Therefore, one of the hobbies that have become popular in recent years is restoring spaces or objects on our own. Perhaps for those who have manual skills, doing small masonry, carpentry, mechanics, decoration, glassware or plumbing jobs is their passion, so it is a good option to occupy their free time.