3.09.2023

The 3 Hobbies Parents Should Start to Look After Their Mental Health

 


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Many parents can feel the pressure of looking after children in the modern world. Life is not getting any simpler, and when we fall into bad habits of constantly checking social media, not living in the real world, having to work more than one job, as well as look after our children, it's hardly a surprise that we can feel full to the point of bursting. 

Mental health concerns amongst parents are on the increase, with a study showing 38% of first-time fathers were concerned about their mental health. This is why parents need to be more aware of how they can look after their mental health, not just in terms of recognizing the signs, but also having a proper dialogue about mental health concerns and taking appropriate steps to minimize or prevent them. 

One of the most important practices is having a hobby. It sounds simple, but having something that's for you can help you to distract yourself from concerns, while also doing something that is purely for your benefit. Let's show you some hobbies that can make a big difference and why they are so good.

Crafting

The greatest reason that crafting is so good for people who are concerned about their mental health is because it gives them that distraction and also gives them something to do with their hands. Having an abundance of GANXXET macrame materials stored at home can help you to start creating as soon as you notice some form of anxiety. When we feel anxious, having a tool that distracts our senses can help us lose ourselves in a task that has a worthwhile end goal. 

A lot of people don't like the idea of meditation, and this is primarily because they are of the belief they have to sit down and not think of anything. This is why it's essential for us to start using tools and tactics like crafting or woodwork as a way to pour our energies into something that is meditative in nature. 

Knitting or sewing is a very similar practice because there is a repetitive motion that you do with your hands that becomes meditative and provides something worthwhile at the end of it. After all, it's something that our grandmothers knew was beneficial for them all along!

Stepping Outside

Being outside in any form can be invaluable for our mental health. Lots of people take to walking later in life because it gives them that literal and metaphorical momentum. Of course, there are the benefits to being outside and exercising, but when we are taking part in practices like hiking or just going for a walk, it can help us feel less claustrophobic. 

More people are having to spend time indoors because they are working from home and they are looking after their children with little opportunity to escape. Getting outside is a great way to have fresh air that will make you feel less pressure within yourself, but there are a number of things you can do outside that make you feel happier. 

Gardening is one of those things that is an amazing tool for mental health and physical health. Lots of people feel more connected to nature when they start to garden. For those people who don't necessarily like the idea of getting into nature, gardening provides a sense of pride in one's property while also having that exercise that gives our body endorphins. 

There are so many other fantastic hobbies you can do outside, such as fishing. It's not something that many mothers particularly like to do, but fishing is another almost meditative practice that helps you to slow down. One of the biggest problems we all have as parents is that life goes too fast for our brains and our bodies to comprehend. When we feel overwhelmed, we invariably fall back on terrible habits. Getting outside is an amazing way to put things into perspective. Something like fishing helps us to slow down and get used to a slower pace of life, which can make us feel more rested.

Exercising

It is the one hobby that people talk about time and time again when it comes to the mental health side of the equation. The biggest problem most of us have is believing there is absolutely no time to look after our physical health. It is easy to see why this is the case; working at home, looking after our children, and then having to fit things in between is going to make us feel overwhelmed. However, exercise doesn't have to be an hour and a half at the gym three times a week, which is absolutely impossible for most parents to maintain. 

What you can do instead is find little ways to squeeze in exercise at home. We can all wake up feeling sluggish and low in energy, even if we had a good night's sleep, but there is a concept known as exercise snacks, where you literally do something for 30 seconds without needing a warm-up. It could be jumping jacks, running up and down the stairs, or whatever you want that gets the heart pumping. Most people talk about how fresh they feel after exercise, and if you feel like you are not prioritizing your physical health, it is time to look after it better because this can have an immediate impact on your mental health. 


We all feel stressed and overwhelmed. This is why we should not just think about the right hobbies but actually carve out time to do things that will benefit us and nobody else. Whether you are a full-time parent, a carer, or you have a lot of responsibility, looking after your mental health can slip down the pecking order and you start to believe that you're not the most important person. We have to make sure that we are functioning at our optimum because when we are not, we end up having off days all too regularly. This means that we've got to know how to step away but we also must start paying attention to the right habits that will do a lot for our sense of self.


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