Key Takeaways

You might not expect much overlap between professional athletes and yarn crafts. But Tom Daley, a diver who competed for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics, was seen regularly knitting while he waited for others to complete their dives.

After winning gold in synchronized diving, he knitted a pouch for his medal to keep it from getting scratched. He alsoknitted a cardiganthat featured elements of the Olympic rings and the British flag.

Daley was not just knitting to pass the time. He says he does it for his mental health.

“The one thing that has kept me sane throughout this whole process is my love for knitting and crocheting and all things stitching,” Daley said in aFacebook video.

Mental health was an ongoing theme during the Tokyo Olympics. Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles, for example, had to step aside from several events because she was losing the mental focus she needed to perform some of her incredibly difficult vaults and routines.

How Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka Are Changing the Mental Health Conversation

Crafting Is Healthy

Daley is not alone in using yarn crafts like knitting and crocheting to help deal with stress and anxiety. TheCraft Yarn Council, a trade association for yarn crafts, conducts surveys every year to find out who knits and crochets, why they do it, and to ask about the benefits they feel they gain from yarn crafts, according to Sarah Guenther-Moore, a spokesperson for the group. The group even has a website calledStitch Away Stress.

The Craft Yarn Council’s2020 surveyfound that 83% of respondents make yarn creations to relieve stress. Ninety-three percent said knitting, crochet, or other yarn crafts helped them slow down.

According to data the Craft Yarn Council provided to Verwyell, in previous years, survey respondents have deemed yarn crafts a form of self-care, a mood enhancer, and a means of improving concentration.

Studies in medical journals have highlighted similar benefits. A 2013 study published in theBritish Journal of Occupational Therapyfound that knitting had significant psychological and social benefits that contribute to wellbeing and quality of life.

Repetition and Creation

Experts say the repetitive motions of knitting and crocheting are to thank for mental health benefits.

“With hobbies like knitting and crocheting, that repetitive motion itself is very therapeutic," Guenther-Moore tells Verywell. “It allows your mind to kind of take a step back from whatever is bothering you—or causing you frustration or stress—and allows you to zone out while your mind focuses on that repetitive motion. Before you know it, 30 minutes later, you’ve knitted or crocheted several rows and you’re not thinking about whatever was stressing you out or frustrating you.”

Being able to see a final finished product is also mentally rewarding.

“Repetitive actions—from following a pattern for a scarf or needlepoint to doing dishes and raking leaves—offer a certain satisfaction both in the calming process and the concrete result,”Carrie Barron, MD,tells Verywell via email. Barron is Director of Creativity for Resilience and associateprofessor of medical education at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also the co-author ofThe Creativity Cure: How to Build Happiness with Your Own Two Hands.

“Meaningful hand use also gives us a sense of autonomy and purpose, whether we are tending to our environment in routine ways or creating a work of art,” she adds.

How Arts and Culture Can Help COVID-19 Anxiety

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, people started learning or returning to knitting and crocheting because they had time on their hands and wanted something stress-free to do, Guenther-Moore says.

“You know you’re doing something that is a skill that you have to practice and when you’re done, you have something that you’ve made. You can say, ‘I made that,'” she says.

What This Means For YouTaking up a hand craft, such as knitting or crocheting, can help people cope with stress and anxiety. Both the repetitive actions of these crafts as well as the creativity involved offer mental health benefits.

What This Means For You

Taking up a hand craft, such as knitting or crocheting, can help people cope with stress and anxiety. Both the repetitive actions of these crafts as well as the creativity involved offer mental health benefits.

1 SourceVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Riley J, Corkhill B, Morris C.The benefits of knitting for personal and social wellbeing in adulthood: findings from an international survey.British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2013;76(2):50-57. doi:10.4276/030802213X13603244419077

1 Source

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Riley J, Corkhill B, Morris C.The benefits of knitting for personal and social wellbeing in adulthood: findings from an international survey.British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2013;76(2):50-57. doi:10.4276/030802213X13603244419077

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Riley J, Corkhill B, Morris C.The benefits of knitting for personal and social wellbeing in adulthood: findings from an international survey.British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2013;76(2):50-57. doi:10.4276/030802213X13603244419077

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