Hobbies can keep you physically healhier

Think back to the last time you filled in a questionnaire about yourself. Certainly you didn't hesitate at the name, address, or phone number categories, and hopefully not at how truthful to be about smoking, exercising, or seat belt wearing. But one place you may have paused was in listing your hobbies, or what you do in your "free" time. What "free" time? When you are not working, taking care of family, or cleaning the house, you are grabbing a few hours of sleep before starting it all over again. However, finding, keeping, and actively pursuing a hobby can not only keep you physically healthier, but also help you find balance and joy in everyday life.

The high rates of obesity in our country are often the main reason we are encouraged to find an active hobby such as walking, swimming, or playing tennis. Many hobbies do increase physical activity, but the negative associations of exercise usually set something that should be fun up for failure. Choose a hobby based on dreams you had as a child, or new dreams you have as an adult, and forget the exercise part of it. Did you wish to explore the moon? Take up hiking and climbing at local state parks. Dream of being an artist? Taking pictures and sketching are inexpensive and can be done anywhere. Always wanted to open your own pastry shop? Research new baking and frosting methods and get to it! Great idea you may think, but where will I find the time?

Much of our time each day isn't spent performing physical tasks. We spend a lot of our time mentally agonizing over what we haven't done and what we need to do. Filling in some of that worry time with something enjoyable can help keep priorities in sight and give new joy to everyday tasks. Hobbies give you something to talk about with others, expose you socially to new people, give you something to be proud of, lower stress, demand some of your free time (thus forcing you to give yourself free time), and may give you more time outdoors. Each of these alone can do wonders for your wellbeing, and together are sure to create a new outlook on life. It is easy to see just how doing something, anything, you enjoy as a hobby can improve mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical health. Research has shown that recreation, or hobby activities, have moderate to large effects on decreasing depression, reducing anxiety, increasing self-esteem, and improving levels of energy and vigor.

Choose a hobby or two and take the first steps to pursuing them. Use the last 2 weeks of July to choose and research a hobby you think you might enjoy. Then use the month of August to get started. Employees at arts and craft or do-it-yourself stores can be a great resource. Find a book club, a card club, a wine tasting, a golf lesson, a bake sale.... Just get started!

Hobbies can be almost anything: golfing, painting, gardening, travelling, writing, knitting, carving, biking, collecting, playing cards, reading, volunteering, cooking... the list could be endless. And better yet, most hobbies can be shared with friends, a spouse, and children-or can be enjoyed all alone. Not many things can be guaranteed, but finding an activity will almost certainly improve your quality of life and the quality of the lives of those around you through your newfound joy and lower levels of stress.