Get into craft to boost your health and wellbeing

This is sponsored content for Warrawong Plaza.

If you're someone who's passionate about a craft like knitting, sewing or crochet you might know this already - time spent immersed in a creative hobby makes you feel good.

Beyond just the enjoyment of getting wrapped up in a craft that you love, studies are increasingly revealing that it can have some very real and positive effects on your health and wellbeing.

Living in today's busy and overscheduled world, where the stresses and pressures of life can leave many with a sense of feeling overwhelmed, there's growing interest in the health benefits - particularly mental health - that craft provides.

The benefits range from alleviating anxiety and improving brain function, to enhancing self-esteem and even lessening the effects of serious health conditions.

Just the act of working with beautifully-coloured fabrics with a pastime like quilting has been found to be uplifting, particularly in winter, while surveyed knitters say they experience a wide range of perceived psychological benefits from their craft. They include relaxation, relief from stress, a sense of accomplishment, increased happiness, reduced anxiety; enhanced confidence, as well as improved memory and concentration.

The growth in interest in craft is one that's been recognised by leading Australian craft retailer Lincraft which has recently opened a new Illawarra store at Warrawong Plaza.

"Traditional crafts and creativity once again has a growing presence in our society because of the personal rewards they provide," said Lincraft Australia managing director John Maguire.

"Our customers already understand that nothing makes you feel better than saying, 'I made this myself'," Mr Maguire said.

"Our aim is to provide inspiration for today's lifestyle-focused communities which understand the joy in being able to put their own stamp or personality on the items they wear, share or decorate their homes with."

So what is it about craft that has it being sought out today almost as a form of meditation?

The answer could be a state of consciousness called "flow" the term coined by famous psychologist Dr Mihaly Csikszentmikalyi to describe the positive mental state of being completely absorbed, focused, and involved in an activity.

Bringing people together

There are health benefits also in craft's ability to forge social and family connections and unite individuals and groups.

From people bonding and supporting each other through shared craft interests in community groups, to those who come together in times of crisis to support victims of disasters locally or overseas with everything from knitting to woodworking, the process of making and building is an uplifting force.

Craft is also bringing together the generations. With more grandparents taking on the role of carer for their grandchildren while parents are at work, there's an increased opportunity for the traditional crafts to be handed down. It's a chance for grandparents to create bonds over a shared love of a craft with their smartphone-focused grandkids.

Lincraft's Mr Maguire said one of the trends the company has noticed is the numbers of young children now routinely coming in to Lincraft stores with their grandparent carers to source the materials they need for all sorts of crafty projects.

"It's really interesting to see what's happening," he said. "My take is that with lots of dual income parents you have grandparents coming into the stores with the grandkids they look after and together they are doing all those traditional crafts that have been most often associated with 60 somethings."

So what are your waiting for? Put down that smartphone and take up a craft and start reaping the benefits for yourself.

This is sponsored content for Warrawong Plaza.