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In 2020, the year Amanda lost her mother, husband, job and pre-pandemic normalcy, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. \u201cMy life was just spiraling down and down and down,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
To help with her symptoms, in addition to an antidepressant prescription, Amanda was given a \u201csocial prescription\u201d: a referral to a non-medical, community-based activity, typically involving movement, nature, art or service. Amanda lives near Devon, England, and became curious about sea swimming after reading about its health benefits and watching other women do it at her local beach all year round. When she told this to her mental health nurse, she was prescribed a spot in Chill Therapy, an eight-week course that teaches swimming, floating and breathing techniques to build skill and confidence navigating the open water.<\/p>\n
Six years later, Amanda turns to swimming in the sea whenever she feels stressed. \u201cIt invigorates me and makes me feel I can cope with anything,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t do without it, to be honest.\u201d She is now down to the lowest dose of her antidepressant, and has made a ton of friends along the way: \u201cI feel refreshed in body and soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though research has long linked hobbies involving exercise, arts and nature to a wide range of health benefits, social prescribing now lets people like Amanda participate in them as part of their healthcare, typically covering barriers like cost and transportation. While the practice is more common in the UK, some insurers in the US are starting to participate in social prescribing.<\/p>\n
But you don\u2019t need a doctor\u2019s note to get started. We asked experts in the social prescribing field for tips on picking a hobby that will actually improve your health.<\/p>\n
When choosing a hobby, think about how you\u2019re feeling now, and how you\u2019d like to feel in the future.<\/p>\n
For instance, if you\u2019ve been feeling tired or down, like Amanda, science suggests you should move your body; for example, multiple studies show sea swimming can help reduce depression and depressive symptoms.<\/p>\n
On a physiological level, this makes sense: aerobic exercise has been linked with gains in mood-boosting endorphins and serotonin. Additionally, time spent in nature is linked with lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.<\/p>\n
Feeling distracted? Nature is also good at improving focus. According to the Attention Restoration Theory, nature is uniquely equipped to restore our depleted mental resources by providing \u201csoft fascination\u201d, a state of effortless focus that captures our attention without draining it. This could explain why nature has been shown to improve our executive functioning and concentration.<\/p>\n
Creative activities can help with getting through sadness, isolation or pain. \u201cArt is a human experience \u2013 it helps folks get out of their loneliness and into a flow state, which can rewire their brain from trauma,\u201d says Holly Jacobson, CEO of Path With Art, a Seattle-based non-profit that offers free arts-based community programming. A new small study found that Path with Art participants experienced statistically significant gains in mental wellbeing and efficacy, and reductions in loneliness. Earlier small studies found that painting can reduce anxiety, and that art-making can reduce cortisol levels after 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
Some people can\u2019t see themselves knitting, while others might rule out sports because of injury. Research suggests we are more likely to follow through on an activity if we have intrinsic motivation \u2013 the internal drive to do something because we find it genuinely enjoyable or satisfying, rather than an external reward, like losing weight.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what worked for Amanda. Instead of receiving a finger-wagging recommendation to exercise, she says she was intrinsically motivated to go sea swimming. \u201cWhen I could not go in the sea while waiting for hip replacement for two years, I used to picture myself in the waves with my friends and it always cheered me up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
To help uncover a patient\u2019s intrinsic motivation, professionals called link workers are tasked with listening to patients and helping them uncover their unique curiosities. Many are trained in motivational interviewing, an evidence-based, person-centered conversational technique that helps people work within their own value system and reasons for change, says Dr Tim Anstiss, a medical doctor who helped to develop the training, which recommends questions like: how might your life change if you joined that group? Who or what gives your life meaning and purpose?<\/p>\n
Graphic with three lines of text that say, in bold, \u2018Well Actually\u2019, then \u2018Read more on living a good life in a complex world,\u2019 then a pinkish-lavender pill-shaped button with white letters that say \u2018More from this section\u2019<\/p>\n
Doing what gives us purpose and meaning is \u201cvital\u201d to our health and wellbeing, agrees Dr Ivory Rose, a California-based occupational therapist and lead within Social Prescribing USA. \u201cLeisure pursuits are a very important part of [our health], but often get forgotten in the face of an illness or busy schedule,\u201d she says, referencing studies that link meaningful activity to greater health.<\/p>\n
Rose aims to rebuild this association for clients with questions like: what is something you used to enjoy doing that you haven\u2019t done in a while? What is important to you to be able to do?<\/p>\n
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Sign up to Well Actually<\/span><\/p>\n Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Mindfulness is \u201cthe very simple process of noticing\u201d, says Dr Ellen Langer, a psychology professor at Harvard University. In her most recent book, The Mindful Body, <\/em>she explores the wide-ranging benefits of being more mindful, which include improving your memory, creativity and energy, and strengthening your social relationships.<\/p>\n Langer says to start by noticing three new things about something familiar \u2013 say, a person, place or object. Every time you notice you are on autopilot, you build \u201ca healthy mindset for uncertainty\u201d, she says. This is important because people who are stressed or in pain often \u201cbelieve the symptoms they have are going to stay the same or get worse\u201d, and that suffering is constant, Langer says. But according to research, people can feel better when they notice improvements and reflect on why they feel better.<\/p>\n Dr Rachel Zoffness, a pain psychologist teaching at Stanford and the University of California at San Francisco, similarly points to research showing that pain can increase or decrease, depending on where we direct our attention.<\/p>\n In her recent book, Tell Me Where It Hurts, she offers tips for pain relief. She says she sometimes asks patients directly: \u201cWill you tell me about a time you were so absorbed in an activity that you briefly forgot about your pain?\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not sure what brings you meaning or what captures your attention in adulthood, try reflecting on what brought you joy in childhood. \u201cWhen we were kids, playing did not relate to a specific goal, but it\u2019s the most natural form of learning,\u201d says Purvi Shah, founder of PlayRx.life, a wellness platform. Shah advises clients to \u201csay \u2018yes\u2019 to something new, especially when they are stuck in a rut and problems seem overwhelming\u201d.<\/p>\n Caitlin Marshall, a licensed clinical social worker and co-author of Creative First Aid, agrees. In her work leading creative workshops on activities including beekeeping and watercolor painting, she focuses on helping people who are experiencing psychological distress rediscover a sense of childlike joy. \u201cIt\u2019s about learning to help people do what feels good and inspiring to them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Encouraging participants to be open-minded helps them to discover new things about themselves. \u201cSome of them will arrive and say: \u2018I hate cooking.\u2019 Then those people are the ones that end up loving it,\u201d Marshall says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to be judgmental and curious at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2020, the year Amanda lost her mother, husband, job and pre-pandemic normalcy, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. \u201cMy life was just spiraling down and down and down,\u201d she says. To help with her symptoms, in addition to an antidepressant prescription, Amanda was given a \u201csocial prescription\u201d: a referral to a non-medical, community-based<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[13007,37,15533,771,106],"class_list":{"0":"post-51567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-choosing","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-hobbies","11":"tag-improve","12":"tag-tips"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Use mindfulness to identify activities that naturally capture your attention<\/h2>\n
Just say \u2018yes\u2019<\/h2>\n