Knitting Is The Most Relaxing Hobby EVER!

Survey shows our favourite pastime can help lower your heart rate!

As knitters we’ve all experienced the relaxing feeling of settling down with needles and yarn, and know the personal enjoyment we get from our hobby - but it turns out that one of the key reasons knitting is so calming is that it actually helps to lower your heart rate! Two recent surveys by website diys.com have shown that knitting is:

• the most relaxing hobby you can take up this year
• the hobby that will reduce your heart rate by the biggest amount!

Knitting is the most relaxing hobby

Diys.com first surveyed 2,379 people to find out which hobbies they found most relaxing. The highest ranking pastimes were knitting, yoga, gardening, baking and DIY. Other hobbies included more energetic activities, such as hiking, running and cycling.

Knitting lowers your heart rate

Following on from the initial survey, diys.com wanted to find out how these hobbies affected a person’s heart rate. The study aimed to investigate whether the activities thought to be most relaxing were the same ones that reduced the heart rate. An average person’s resting heartbeat falls between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Taking an average of 80 beats per minute as a starting point, the survey asked 357 participants aged between 20-30 years to take part in the 20 hobbies that the earlier research had found to be the most relaxing. Using Fitbit data gathered over several weeks, the researchers analysed the participants’ heart rates to work out the number of beats per minute. The results showed that:

• Knitting can reduce your heart rate to just 65 beats per minutes, that’s a reduction of 18.75%
• Blogging, calligraphy and painting can also reduce your heart rate
• Baking, pottery and photograph can increase your beats per minute

The British Heart Foundation lists an increased heart rate as a symptom of stress. We all know that 2020 has been a difficult year so finding ways to calm your anxiety and lower your stress levels is really important - and this survey shows that knitting can help you do just that.

If you are looking to pick up the needles for the first time, sign up to our Let’s Knit Together club where you can gain access to our exclusive expert-led how-to knit video course.