Arts and crafts appear to increase well-being more than employment

Engaging in arts and crafts improves mental well-being and makes you feel like life is worth living. These activities have positive effects that are as strong or stronger than the mental health benefits of employment.

Decades of research have shown that health, income and employment status are major predictors of people’s life satisfaction. But researchers at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK wanted to investigate whether other activities or situations could improve mental health. “I was really drawn to crafts because they are so readily available, cheap and already popular, so I thought it might be good for wellbeing,” she says. Helen Keyes.

Keyes and her colleagues analyzed more than 7,000 responses per year. Participation SurveyWe asked people in the UK how they engage with activities such as arts and culture, sports and internet use. All participants were also asked about their happiness, anxiety, loneliness, life satisfaction and whether they felt their lives were worthwhile.

More than a third of the participants said they had engaged in at least one art or craft activity in the past year, including pottery, painting, knitting, photography, filmmaking, woodworking or jewelry making. Even after taking into account factors such as health and employment status, the researchers found that engaging in arts and crafts was associated with higher scores on measures of mental health.

Although the increase was modest—just 0.2 out of 10—crafting was a stronger predictor of someone feeling like their life was worthwhile than harder-to-change factors like career.

“There’s something about crafting that gives you a sense of progress and self-expression in a way that you often don’t get from being employed,” says Keith. “You feel really proud of what you’ve created, and you can see the progress in real time, right before your eyes.” The positive effect of creative pursuits on a person’s sense of worth in life was 1.6 times greater than being employed.

Arts and crafts increased happiness and life satisfaction, but did not significantly change reported loneliness, which may be because many crafts are done alone.

Keith says encouraging and supporting arts and crafts could be used as a preventative measure for mental health on a national level. “When people do it, they enjoy it. It’s an easy win.”