Creative hobbies give us a sense of self-expression and progress.
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Engaging in arts and crafts improves mental health and a sense that life is worth living, and these activities have positive effects that are equal to or greater than the improvements in mental health that come with employment.
Decades of research have shown that health, income and employment status are the main predictors of people’s life satisfaction. But researchers at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK wanted to explore what other activities and environments might improve mental health. “Crafts are accessible, affordable and already popular, so we were really interested in finding out whether they could have health benefits,” says Helen Keys.
Keys and her colleagues analyzed more than 7,000 responses to the annual Taking Part Survey, which asks people in England how they are engaging with arts and culture, sport, internet use and other activities. All participants were also asked about their happiness, anxiety, loneliness, life satisfaction and whether they felt their life was worthwhile.
More than a third of participants said they had done at least one arts or crafts activity in the past year, including pottery, painting, knitting, photography, filmmaking, woodworking, and jewelry making. The researchers found that engaging in arts and crafts was associated with higher scores across measures of mental health, even after accounting for factors such as health and employment status.
Although the increase was small (about 0.2 on a 10-point scale), crafting was a stronger predictor of feeling that life was worth living than factors that are harder to change, such as having a job.
“There’s something about making things that gives you a sense of progress and self-expression that you can’t get in a job,” Keys says. “You can take real pride in what you make, and you can see the progress in real time.” The positive effect of creative activities on people’s sense of value in life was 1.6 times higher than in a job situation.
Arts and crafts also increased happiness and life satisfaction, but did not produce significant changes in reported loneliness, which may be because many crafts can be done alone.
Keyes said promoting and supporting arts and crafts could be used as a preventative mental health strategy on a national scale: “When people do it, they enjoy it. It’s an easy win.”
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