How Picking Up a New Hobby Relieves Stress

How Picking Up a New Hobby Relieves Stress Stress Management Management Techniques Print The Importance of Hobbies for Stress Relief By Elizabeth Scott, MS twitter Elizabeth Scott, MS, is a wellness coach specializing in stress management and quality of life, and the author of 8 Keys to Stress Management. Learn about our editorial policy Elizabeth Scott, MS Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on May 06, 2016 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on September 30, 2019 How Stress Impacts Your Health Overview Signs of Burnout Stress and Weight Gain Benefits of Exercise Stress Reduction Tips Self-Care Practices Mindful Living Tatiana Maramygina / Getty Images Hobbies are often thought of as activities for people who lead quiet, relaxed lives, but people with full, busy, even stressful lives may need hobbies more than the average person. Hobbies bring many benefits that usually make them more than worth the time they require. Here are some of the advantages of having hobbies. Health Benefits of Hobbies One study found that those who engage in physical leisure activities for at least 20 minutes once a week are less susceptible to fatigue. Other research found that enjoyable activities performed during leisure time were associated with lower blood pressure, total cortisol, waist circumference, and body mass index, and perceptions of better physical function. Such activities were also correlated with higher levels of positive psychosocial states and lower levels of depression and negative effect. Ultimately, the benefits of hobbies, both psychologically and physically, are worth exploring. Find something you enjoy engaging in and you create time for yourself and your health! Taking a Break Hobbies provide a slice of work-free and responsibility-free time in your schedule. This can be especially welcome for people who feel overwhelmed by all that they have to do and need to recharge their batteries by doing something they enjoy. For those who feel overwhelmed by responsibility, it may be difficult to find the time or give themselves permission to take a break from a busy schedule and just sit and relax. Engaging in hobbies can provide a break with a purpose, which can help people feel that they’re not just sitting around but are using their downtime for something productive. Either way, hobbies provide a nice break during a busy week. Experiencing Eustress For those who aren’t overly stressed and may actually be under-stimulated, hobbies provide a nice source of eustress, the healthy kind of stress that we all need to remain feeling excited about life. If the rest of your life is somewhat dull or uninspiring, hobbies can provide meaning and fun  and can break up a boring schedule without feeling like work. In other words, hobbies can provide just the right amount of challenge. Having a Social Outlet Many hobbies lend themselves to group activities: golfing rotations, knitting circles, and creative writing groups are good examples. Hobbies that connect you with others can bring the added benefit of social support, which can bring stress relief and meaning to life in a fun way. The friends you have fun with can become some of your best friends, so hobbies that bring you closer to others are well worth your time. Enjoying Positive Pleasures Positive psychology, a relatively new branch of psychology that studies what makes life worthwhile, has discovered that pleasuresâ€"activities that bring fun to lifeâ€"can be wonderful for relaxation and enjoyment of the moment. Pleasures can bring a lift to your mood. Since hobbies generally incorporate pleasures into your life, maintaining hobbies can be good for your overall sense of joy. Receiving Gratifications Also from positive psychology, gratifications are important activities that bring meaning and fun to life. Gratifications present the kind of challenge that requires us to use some of our best personal skills and engages us in a sense of flow, which can put us in a near-meditative state where we lose track of time and feel removed from the stressors of life, and fully engage in what we are doing. Gratifications can lead to a reduction in stress and a sense of well-being, and hobbies are usually experienced as gratifications. If you want more happiness and fewer stress experiences in your life, hobbies provide a direct route to gratifications that can lead to this. Staving Off Burnout Hobbies bring a sense of fun and freedom to life that can help to minimize the impact of chronic stress. Those who feel overwhelmed at a job, for example, can benefit from hobbies because they provide an outlet for stress  and something to look forward to after a hard day (or week) at a stressful job. Some research shows that those who are in stressful jobs that normally contribute to burnout (low-control, high-demand jobs, for example) feel less of a need to recover from their day at bedtime if they have more physical or social leisure activities that aren’t work-relatedâ€"or in other words, more hobbies. In this study, those who had a need to recover at bedtime were more likely to suffer from negative health and wellness outcomes like psychosomatic complaints and fatigue. In other words, hobbies can help buffer the effects of a stressful job and mitigate factors that contribute to burnout.