For students in the UK, the winter months can be a challenging time, so try crafting to keep the blues away.
Early sunsets, cold weather, and looming deadlines are enough to bring anyone down. Looking after your wellbeing is crucial during these times, to make sure you stay healthy, happy and motivated until the season changes. An excellent way to do that is by picking up a fun hobby or craft.
Crafting has been shown to have significant mental and even physical health benefits. Repetitive crafts like knitting, crocheting, or colouring require focus and flow. Entering into this focused state—even for just 30 minutes a day—can lower stress and anxiety levels, in much the same way as meditation. Taking your mind off your everyday worries provides relief, and an enjoyable creative outlet wards off boredom and restlessness.
Beyond mental perks, working with your hands on crafts can also improve motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and dexterity. Crafting is often a social activity too—yarn groups or pottery painting workshops let you bond with others, while developing a new skill gives you a sense of purpose and achievement as you finish projects.
There are endless crafting options to test out. Simple ones to start with include basic embroidery, jewellery making, painting pottery or scrapbooking. There are plenty of websites such as YouTube which have free tutorials if you need inspiration. You can also investigate what local community centres, the Hive or the SU societies might have on offer. And there’s always “Fancy a Cuppa?” in firstpoint, where we regularly try our hand at crochet or make pom-poms!
To get you started this winter, why not join the Student Wellbeing Champions for their Christmas Crafternoon, on Monday 18th December 2023 between 12noon and 3pm in the SU Hangar. They will be making Christmas crackers, cards and snow globes, as well as seasonally-themed pom-poms and mindfulness colouring. You can find more information about this and more activites taking place next week on our Christmas events blog post.
Filling your free time with relaxing, engaging craft sessions will make the long winter months easier. Your mood and motivation levels will thank you! Give crafting a whirl for better wellbeing this season.
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