We all know the joys of engaging in anart or craft hobby as a pastime. It’s a great way to unwind, spend spare time or engage in socialising over a group activity. Crocheting is generally regarded as a well-loved pastime amongseniors, however, a closer look at available statistics reveals that age ranges are fairly even across the board, from 18 years to 60+.
Crocheting is also regarded as a hobby that requires some level of creativity and finger/hand dexterity and therefore not suitable for everyone. Again, statistics reveal otherwise. As it is with any crafting hobby, understanding the basics and becoming familiar with the process will take time and effort. Crocheting is not something that requires a high level of skill to begin and once you have mastered the basic stitches you can graduate to higher skill levels in the craft. You can use learn to crochet Australia for a beginner-friendly introduction to the hobby.
There are several reasons why crocheting is a great use of your free time. Here are some of them.
Reduce stress and anxiety: scientific research reveals concentrating on a crafting activity using our handsis beneficial for our mind. The focus and concentration on the activity allow us to enter a state of relaxation which in turn can reduce our levels of stress.
Self-esteem: when you come to a point in your crafting journey where you feel you have mastered the skill or feel you are good at what you do, you reward yourself with a feeling of achievement that elevates your self-esteem. This self-esteem can carry through to other areas of your life to help you deal with difficulties that are experienced in everyday life.
Joy and satisfaction: the joy we feel when we have completed a craft project to which we have devoted time and effort gives us a sense of pride, especially if the project turns out as per expectations. This joy and satisfaction we experience release dopamine the feel-good hormone to create a reward system in our brain, encouraging us to do more of the same.
Enhance motor skills: while improving finger dexterity, working with our hands requires us to focuson the task making us coordinate our thinking with what our hands are doing.This improves our mind-body coordination and enhances our fine motor skills. This is particularly helpful for seniors who find their mind-body coordination beginning to diminish with age.
In-home: crocheting has the benefit of being an in-home craft hobby, although it can also be something you do as a group at another location. The fact that it is an indoor activity means that even those with reduced mobility can engage in the hobby.
Mental agility: research suggests craft hobbies have a big impact on improving our mental agility and how we handle unknown or difficult situations. Regularly engaging in crafting helps create new neuro connections which science says make us smarter. It seems that manual activity is a good way to exercise the brain.
