Whether you are creative or not, sewing is an activity that you should consider because it has many benefits. Not only is it a hobby and an economic activity as well, but it can also impact your health in a positive way.
If you are not certain about taking up sewing as a hobby, then the following health benefits will tip the scales in favor of sewing.
Happiness
Happiness might seem like a pretty obvious thing, but it is healthy to be happy. Sewing makes you happy by reducing stress. That feeling of accomplishment you get after you create something is comparable to none.
It gives you a sense of satisfaction and pleasure, and this is because the brain releases a chemical called dopamine every time you accomplish something. Dopamine is considered a happy hormone, and thus, this leaves you in a very good mood.
Sewing also helps to reduce stress because it takes your mind off the worrying things and lets you focus on the task of creation.
Reduces blood pressure
This is directly attributed to the reduction in stress levels. High blood pressure is usually associated with an increase in stress, and therefore, the relaxed nature and happiness that you get when sewing results in a reduction of your blood pressure.
This was proven by the home sewing association, which conducted a study on several participants while measuring their heartbeat. Averagely, the heartbeats of these participants dropped by nine beats per minute, which is very healthy, especially if you are old.
Improves hand-eye coordination
This is by far the most direct benefit that you will get from sewing. The activity itself requires very fine motor skills and starts from threading the sewing machine. From there, coordinating the needle stitching as you feed the fabrics into the machine plays a big role in improving your hand-eye coordination.
This is because you must feed the fabric at the correct spot, and this heavily involves observation and hand movement.
Brain growth
The brain is the organ behind hand-eye coordination, which means that sewing is very brain intensive. Apart from this, creativity – which is part of sewing – is also very brain intensive. In the end, your brain gets to work a lot. This leads to its growth just as other bodily muscles grow after a continued workout.
Fights dementia
Sewing makes you memorize and redo several steps again and again. It also makes you solve problems mentally, for instance, when figuring out the amount of fabric and thread needed for a certain project.
This continued brain use exercises the brain, making it grow new brain cells in the process. This results in more connections between brain cells and therefore fight dementia because the increased connections rapidly improve your memory.
Conclusion
These health benefits can be beneficial to old-age persons. However, this does not mean that sewing machines should only be used by old people.
For the young generation, sewing can serve as a way to disengage from the continued use of gadgets such as smartphones, laptops, video games, and TVs, enabling you to enjoy these benefits right from an early stage.