Tag Archives: natural

4 Health-Boosting Hobbies

In an age of pills, prescriptions, and fad diets, it’s good to know that there are more natural ways to maintain our health. These are four great hobbies for boosting your personal wellbeing:

  1. Dancing 

    source: flickr

    While dancing may not be everyone’s strong suit (me and my ‘dad-like’ dancing included), it’s hard to deny that nearly everyone enjoys busting loose to some funky tunes. Besides dancing’s ability to improve cardio and strengthen bones and muscle, one of dancing’s most noteworthy benefits is its capacity to considerably improve balance in the elderly. A 2011 Cochrane Review demonstrated that elderly subjects who danced at least three times a week significantly enhanced their balance. This is valuable research because, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2.8 million elderly people are hospitalized due to unintentional falls each year, and this number is steadily growing. Maybe getting old folks to implement some jive into their daily routine will help reduce this statistic (assuming no one breaks a hip).

  2. Writing about Traumas/Difficulties

    source: flickr

    Researchers are now telling us that sitting at a desk all day with a pen and paper can actually enrich our personal health. Writing about personal experiences/difficulties has been shown to improve the mental health of cancer patients by encouraging them to view their situation in a more positive light. In addition to boosting mental health, the act of writing has also been linked with improvements in physical health. An Australian study demonstrated that patients who wrote about distressing life events (Expressive Writing group) had a significantly faster wound-healing rate than patients who wrote about simple daily tasks (Time Management group); by day 11 post-injury, 76% of the Expressive Writing patients were fully healed, while only 42% of the Time Management patients were fully healed.


  3. Listening to Music

    source: flickr

    In case dancing just really isn’t your forte, it’s good to know that the simple act of listening to some tunes benefits your health as well. A meta-analysis conducted by Medical News Today investigated how listening to music influences our neurochemistry. The main conclusion stated that music boosts the immune system, lowers stress and anxiety, and dampens symptoms of depression. In some cases, music was even found to be more effective at reducing anxiety than certain prescription drugs!

  4. Owning a Pet

    source: flickr

    Apparently, the relationship between you and your pet is a little more ‘give’ than ‘take’ from your pet’s perspective. According to the CDC, owning a pet not only improves your lifestyle by creating more opportunities for outdoor activities, exercise, and socialization, but it can also improve your physical health by decreasing blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and fat levels in your blood (all of which are risk factors for heart disease). Cleaning out litter boxes and filling up water bowls seems like a small price to pay for the health benefits that accompany living with pets.