health benefits of knitting

[SunshineDaydream]

Doe anyone here knit or crochet? If not, you might want to look into it. My cousin started knitting and crocheting to help quit smoking, and another family member started to help with Parkinson's symptoms.

Stress reduction, plus a couple of AI applicable excerpts from article linked below.

I've found that my handiwork with yarn has helped my arthritic fingers remain more dexterous as I age. A woman encouraged to try knitting and crocheting after developing an autoimmune disease that caused a lot of hand pain reported on the Craft Yarn Council site that her hands are now less stiff and painful.

Betsan Corkhill, a wellness coach in Bath, England, and author of the book "Knit for Health & Wellness," established a website, Stitchlinks, to explore the value of what she calls therapeutic knitting. Among her respondents, 54 percent of those who were clinically depressed said that knitting made them feel happy or very happy. In a study of 60 self-selected people with chronic pain, Ms. Corkhill and colleagues reported that knitting enabled them to redirect their focus, reducing their awareness of pain. She suggested that the brain can process just so much at once, and that activities like knitting and crocheting make it harder for the brain to register pain signals. More of Stitchlinks findings are available at their website.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/the-health-benefits-of-knitting/?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

[grammad97]

Sunshine daydream-
I love your name!
I have always wanted to crochet or knit but never had a person to teach me. What I do myself is paper crafting- decopauge, card making etc.
I believe anything we do creatively helps our overall health in several ways. One being it takes our mind off of the aches and pains and two alleviates our stress by focusing on something we enjoy doing thereby helping our mental health.
I took a class about dealing with pain and one of the points of discussion was trying an activity to distract oneself from dwelling on the pain.
Your article is timely and spot on in current treatment of pain patients.
If I am feeling too poorly to use my hands I find distraction in the form of a good book or movie works also.
It took me a bit to realize I could help myself to be less aware of my health problems.

[jazzlover]

I love to crochet but haven't in years due to pain in my body .. Too much pain to handle this, especially now that my shoulder has gone bad.

I am able to find great distraction in COLORING books now. I am totally addicted to it!

[irish]

AMEN!!! Irish

[SjoGirl]

I asked for a beginning knitting kit for Christmas and received one. I'm working on a puzzle right now, which has a similar effects.

Glad to know that the knitting might help because based on my most recent doc's appt I assume I'm going to suffer from chronic pain for the rest of my life.

[SunshineDaydream]

Thank you, Grammad97! Happy to hear you found a creative outlet that helps you forget about pain. Paper crafting sounds neat.

Jazzlover, I have been hearing that coloring books for adults have been a big thing lately as both an artistic outlet for those creating the pictures to be colored and a good way to relax or form of meditation for those who are coloring the pictures. Do you use colored pencils, crayons or something else?

Irish, do you participate in an activity to get your mind off of pain?

Sjogirl, I used to love doing puzzles. I have a cat now, so no puzzles for me anymore as she would just see the pieces as toys to bat around and hide.

My mom tried to teach me how to knit when I was growing up. However, since she is right handed and I am left handed, it lead to both of us getting frustrated. I used to like needlepoint projects, though. Haven't done any in a long time. I enjoy doing crossword puzzles and reading books, but have had to curtail both because of dry eyes.

I guess the article title was a little inaccurate as it's really as grammad97 said, distracting ourselves from pain by focusing on something we enjoy doing thereby helping our mental health. Could be woodworking or any variety of engaging activity. I think someone in this forum is into beading.

[katie1111]

I knit and crochet, though I find with my cognitive issues I have problems following patterns.  There are excellent how-to videos on Utube.

Katie1111

[susanep]

I enjoy crocheting, hand embroidery, and hand sewing. I machine sew too, but it's hard on my back to sit there for long. I am no expert in any of them, but they pass the time for me, and do help me think about something over pain.

My youngest sister who is in her mid 40's, said she bought a paint set that also had coloring pencils in it for dad, but he has yet to open it. She works, but bought her one of the coloring sets they show on tv, and loves it to ease stress. I am glad for her.

Hugs,
susanep