Quilting is a recreational art practiced for many years. Many written and oral claims have been made about its benefits on one’s mental and physical health. However, it wasn’t until recent years that researchers and health experts started studying the many excellent health benefits of the art of quilting. It was practiced back then to quilt warm and snug sweaters, blankets, gloves, socks, and many more for the family to survive the harsh and freezing winter season.
Modernization makes winter wear easy to produce in factories using advanced machinery. Moreover, with such tight schedules and less time for recreation, people now buy all the winter wear directly from stores.
As shocking and grateful as it may sound, the blessed art of quilting hasn’t perished in all these years. People still enjoy it as a pastime and to express their creativity. Quilting is an easy and exciting art to learn. Carolina Oneto offers an improve quilting class to beginners and practitioners through virtual courses.
Surprisingly enough, quilting has numerous positive effects on one’s mind and body. Today, quilt-art practitioners practice this art for their reasons. Below are some of those reasons that help improve your health and well-being.
Contents
Stress Buster: Relieves Stress And Anxiety
Due to today’s rigorous schedules and hectic lifestyles, humans are constantly under stress. A human always worries about one thing or the other. Whether it’s a decision about the ideal insurance policy or the perfect shirt color for one’s kid’s birthday, a human always worries about everything.
The reason is quite simple. The brain cells of a human aren’t evolved enough to distinguish between a forthcoming meeting with an imminent clientele or a terrifying shark attack. When rehearsed repeatedly, practicing recreational arts like quilting, sewing, or doodling stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. It significantly impacts the body’s flight or fight mechanism by calming it down during intense situations. It helps one to understand the surroundings entirely and then take the appropriate action based on assessment rather than instincts.
Quilt-making acts as a stress reliever in this frantic lifestyle. It is a fruitful nostrum that helps people who are constantly under stress or feel anxious frequently to deal with the challenging hurdles one has to face every day.
Brain Exercise: Improves Cognitive Functions
Another substantial health perk of this beautiful craft is the enhancement of one’s cognitive functioning. This craft combines bright colors and interesting geometrical shapes. The bright colors here uplift the mood, distracting one from everyday stress and helping one focus on the current activity. It may sound like a fun activity, but it requires one to storm their brains to make the perfect blend of color values and their combinations. It adds an element of amusement along with improving brain health.
Quilting includes determining different block designs and quilt patterns and playing with different geometric shapes. It enhances one’s artistic and problem-solving skills. This puzzling art demands the constant participation of the brain as one needs to measure accurately, place designs creatively, and use problem-solving skills while quilting.
As it includes maths and geometry, quilt makers frequently face problem-solving challenges, which offer a great exercise to the brain. It enhances one’s well-being in a way that physical activity can’t do. It is an excellent option for the elderly or the disabled who cannot follow any rigorous exercise regimen but still maintain their mental well-being.
Mood Booster: Makes One Happy
Producing beautiful and worthwhile art makes people feel accomplished and happy. Quilt-makers create attractive and tangible work which allows them to share their efforts with friends and family.
According to research, experts found that the brain of quilt-makers flooded with dopamine and serotonin, the happy hormones, when they viewed their work with a sense of accomplishment. It signifies that creating, sharing, and viewing one’s own art causes a decrease in the stress and anxiety levels in one’s brain. It results in happier and more content feelings when one practices quilting very often.
Art Doctor: No Visits To The Doctor
Quilting effectively reduces stress and releases rewarding neurotransmitters into the brain. Hence, one experiences a sense of achievement through this exquisite art. Consequently, it helps lower the risks of heart disease and strokes resulting from chronic stress and depression.
As stated by The Journal of the American Medical Association, this beautiful craft is a panacea for many health issues. It maintains blood pressure levels, SO2 levels, and a healthy heart rate. All of this helps a person to stay healthy and reduce the number of visits to a doctor. Quilt-making promotes overall well-being and happiness.
Community Builder: Connects Quilters
As a human, relationships, friendships, community, fraternity, and brotherhood, are all vital for survival. It is correctly said that human is a social animal. This sense of belonging to some group and connecting with others keeps one happy and healthy.
However, social gatherings are now infrequent as humans live in a digital world, more popularly known as the metaverse. With this advancing technology, humans are connecting virtually but have distanced themselves from the real, tangible world. Moreover, with smartphones everywhere, humans have isolated themselves from the natural world around them.
The art of quilt making is practiced by many craft lovers. Quilters have formed online groups to share their love for this art and valuable tips and tricks. Not only this, but there is a quilter community everywhere in the world. These communities meet in person and practice their art together. It helps one build bonds and meaningful relationships with like-minded people and enhances one’s emotional well-being through their support.
Conclusion
People have always acknowledged the various benefits of quilting on one’s health. Practicing it with amiable and cooperative friends while using vibrant colors uplifts the mood. It involves performing a movement repetitively. These movements push one into a relaxed state and eliminate all tensions and worries from the mind. The math and geometry involved in this beautiful art demand analytical and problem-solving skills. Hence, it makes life more happening and content by providing new challenges. Quilting acts as a reward mechanism that brings satisfaction and a sense of achievement to the quilt maker as well as friends and family.