Hobbies make you feel good. They help you relax and unwind from your day, with the added benefit of lowering your stress levels and blood pressure. Hobbies can help ease existing depression symptoms and decrease your risk of developing depression by up to 30%.
Ways that hobbies improve your mental health:
- Improve neuroplasticity: According to the StatPearls, neuroplasticity describes our brain's ability to adapt its activity and structure by forming and using new synaptic connections. You can think of your brain as a big map -- there are many ways to get to your destination, and sometimes you have to change which way you're going. Hobbies and habits require you to form new neural pathways, which provide new reference points for the brain to recognize.
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