By Alliance Communications Coordinator Amy Durr
While most people in waiting rooms are frustratedly fidgeting, I’m contentedly knitting. We knitters are everywhere – commuting, watching our kids practice soccer or softball, and especially in meetings. And we’ve got a secret: knitting is sustainable and satisfying while making us healthier and sharper. Science shows that “activities like knitting stimulate the mind, reduce the effects of stress-related diseases and slow cognitive decline,” according to the Washington Post.
In a world that is progressively electronic and virtual, knitting is a tactile antidote which results in something real and of value. “The repetitive action of needlework can induce a relaxed state like that associated with meditation and yoga. Once you get beyond the initial learning curve, knitting…can lower heart rate and blood pressure and reduce harmful blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol,” according to Dr. Herbert Benson, author of The Relaxation Response.
Everyone Knits!
While the stereotype is of old ladies in rocking chairs, knitters are of all genders, all ages, all over the world, and even in space. Who knew that Robin Williams, Meryl Streep, Russell Crowe, Julia Roberts and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Daley avidly knit? What people also don’t know is that “Knitting was once thought of as an exclusive gentleman’s occupation, involving rigorous testing and scrutinization, with cut-throat competition and cold business running through its core,” according to crafter Mike Aspinall. /span>
Knitting Provides Similar Benefits to Meditation
Knitting (and related yarn and string crafts like crocheting, braiding and knotting, and others) calm the mind and body. “The rhythmic movements of knitting offer many of the same kinds of benefits as meditation,” says Carrie Barron, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and co-author of the book The Creativity Cure: How to Build Happiness With Your Own Two Hands. In addition, she says, “Seeing a project take shape provides a deep sense of satisfaction. ‘When we have a life-affirming project going on that grabs the self and gets it to work in a positive way.’”
Even more encouraging is that knitting can help some of society’s most vulnerable people: the elderly, people with mental health challenges, and even people who are incarcerated.
Unanticipated Benefits for Seniors, Those Struggling with Mental Health and the Incarcerated
For older people, knitting reduces stress and slows cognitive decline, but also enhances cognitive skills. It also helps manage pain by producing endorphins and improves dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and finger flexibility. It also helps senior citizens address the world-wide epidemic of loneliness through social connection, according to DoctorSolve. Research from the Mayo Clinic says knitting can reduce the risk of age-related cognitive impairment by up to 30%.
Knitting is also useful for those who struggle to meditate and as a treatment for stress, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, eating disorders, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. “Mindfulness can be a difficult technique to teach, particularly to those who need it the most – the highly stressed, those suffering chronic pain or depression. These conditions make it difficult to concentrate the mind. Knitting is exciting because it opens up the benefits of mindfulness to everyone,” says Betsan Corkhill, a physiotherapist and founder of Stitchlinks.
It provides additional benefits to the incarcerated as well. “At Dorsey Run Correctional Facility in Jessup, MD, one of the most popular recreational programs is a weekly Thursday afternoon knitting class created by Lynn Zwerling, designed to teach more than two dozen inmates discipline, empathy, patience and a professional work ethic through the slow, quiet practice of turning balls of yarn into colorful creations,” according to the Washington Post.
“And perhaps [this] rule is…the most important: Every classmate must tell someone they’ve hurt or disappointed about their weekly practice and eventually knit that person a hat. ‘I’m going to tell my mother,’ said a young student,” shares the Washington Post.
Your Brain on Knitting
Many crafts are wonderfully brain empowering. Such activities may help build up “cognitive reserves and the ability to buffer and withstand lots of assault by bad chemicals in the brain and bad proteins accumulating,” says Mayo Clinic professor of neurology and psychiatry Yonas Geda. Crafters are less likely than others to develop cognitive problems such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Geda tells the Washington Post.
When people who have ADHD can control or direct their movements, they can improve their focus and concentration, according to Zen Yarn Garden. Recent research suggests that the body affects the brain as much as the brain affects the body. In his book Spark, Dr. John Ratey shows that physical activity — even something as small as fidgeting the hands — increases levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine in the way ADHD medications do. Both chemicals play a key role in sharpening focus and increasing attention, according to ADDitude Magazine.
Summary of the Many Ways Knitting Contributes to Sustainability
The Alliance for Sustainability developed one of the first and most comprehensive definitions of sustainability (in bold). It’s wonderful to see the many ways knitting so exemplifies sustainability:
Ecologically sound: Made from organic fibers, naturally dyed by local suppliers, promoting slow fashion (avoiding fast fashion), and lasting longer
Economically viable: Although organic yarn can be expensive, you can save money vs buying new, while creating a job for yourself, supporting other local businesses or suppliers, having your own design without added costs, providing added value for farmers who not only raise the animals but then spin the wool, alpaca, and cotton into yarn, and upcycling thrifted sweaters
Socially just: Avoid sweatshop labor, support small, independent businesses, connect with community and ecosystems, keep money in the local economy, donate hats, scarves and blankets to people who really need them through hospitals, senior programs, low income programs, and cancer centers, allow incarcerated people to give gifts to their family and provide meaning at the same time, and contribute to their rehabilitation
Humane, embodying our highest values in terms of how we treat people, animals and the planet: Giving or donating is a great way to be kind, yarn can be made in humane ways by small, local producers who care for their animals, build connections between farmers, spinners and dyers, and provide wellbeing, satisfaction, generosity and the ability to pass on handmade heirloom with meaning
Who would have known such a simple Sustainability Tip could make such a big difference?