Sadly many of us are often at a loss for what to do in our spare time – but developing a hobby can be beneficial both to your mental and physical health. Any hobby is a great addition to your lifestyle, but there may be some extra benefits to spending time on an exciting ot physically demanding hobby.
- It provides a chance to truly mentally disengage
As we all know, it’s important to have hobbies which you spend time on during your down time because they help to maintain work life balance and allow you to think about something other than work. However, with slower paced hobbies such as reading, knitting, or walking, it can be hard to prevent your mind from wandering and thinking about work. However , if you have a more exciting hobby like riding a stunt scooter or mountain biking, there is no space in your mind for anything other than the activity that you’re engaged in, which can give you a much needed opportunity to truly disengage from work. This is truly beneficial for your mental health, and can even help to prevent burnout.
- It can keep your physical health up to scratch
Maintaining physical health is extremely important, and it’s fantastic if you can combine a hobby that you enjoy with exercise – for example, if you enjoy roller skating this means you not only enjoy your hobby but keep fit at the same time. This often means you end up exercising even more than you need to because you enjoy doing it, which means you increase the benefits to your health.
- It can offer you a chance to socialise healthily
Socialising with the people we care about is an important aspect of maintaining a healthy work life balance, but unfortunately we live in a culture which prioritises drinking and eating as social activities, and either of these things – especially drinking – done to excess can be detrimental to your health. But if you have an exciting hobby like mountain climbing this gives you an activity to enjoy with friends that doesn’t revolve around those two things and this can be hugely beneficial to your health as well as improving your social life.
- It can improve your mental health
As mentioned earlier, engaging in an exciting hobby can be a great way to ensure your downtime from work leaves you truly disengaged from your work mode, totally refreshing you and helping you to recharge for your next day of work. However, having an exciting hobby is also beneficial to your mental health in other ways. Having an unusual hobby can enhance your sense of individuality and self, and especially if you’re skilled at the activity it can help your self esteem which positively impacts other areas of your life. Additionally as mentioned above, a physically active hobby can improve your fitness level, which can additionally help to improve your mental wellbeing.
Finding time for a fulfilling hobby can be really difficult if you have a hectic life, but is actually an important part of looking after your wellbeing – and having an exciting or physically demanding hobby can increase those benefits!