Knitting for Health

I've already told you about stress relief and knitting about how knitting helps us to relax, puts us to the meditative state, which is so important for stress relieve and the optimum health. Today I found a curious website and feature in this direction, posted in KY and I'll tell you about it today!

The first few times a person knits can be a little stressful. You have a tendency to concentrate perhaps a little too hard. Stitches sometimes get dropped and other times they seem to appear out of nothing. However, once a person has been knitting for a while, things change. An experienced knitter is comfortable with his or her needles. He or she can work peacefully for hours at a time.

It turns out that there is something about the hand motions associated with knitting yarn (and other activities) that helps to boost cognitive skills.  While this doesn’t mean that you should give up studying and focus on knitting, but it does mean that knitting in your free time might help you to retain the information that you’re learning in class.

Knitting doesn’t simply have educational benefits. Former physiotherapist Betsan Corkhill has taken up the cause of knitting for health. She has started an online community known as Stitchlinks that is dedicating to discovering how knitting can help people dealing with all sorts of different health problems.

It turns out that knitting is good for just about everyone. Picking yarn in bright colors and visualizing your finished project can help people with depression. Knitting groups will help those who aren’t able to get out much. Knitting helps those with chronic illnesses feel useful during periods in which they have to rest. Knitting can even help sooth pain.

On Stitchlinks, Corkhill discusses many of the different ways that knitting can help people from all different walks of life while providing them with a place to come together to tell their stories. The site also includes a great deal of resources for anyone who is looking to use knitting as a form of therapy.

Of course, everyone who knits does so for a reason. It doesn’t always have to be something so clinical or serious. Perhaps you just like making things for your friends and family. Maybe it’s a way to carry on a tradition that you find important. Regardless of why you knit, the simple act of knitting can help your mind and body become stronger. Think of it as a knitting bonus.