Hobbies Effectively Fight Depression - Research

Hobbies Effectively Fight Depression - Research

The likelihood of being cured of mild to moderate depression increases by almost 300% after acquiring a hobby.

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Social prescribing refers to a physician's recommendation to seek non-medical support to promote health. Doctors are increasingly giving these prescriptions to patients with mild to moderate depression, in which the benefits of medication are less pronounced than in severe forms of the disease.

Examples of social assignments include advice on hobbies, such as playing in a group, singing in a choir, attending classes or groups about modeling, painting, and more. Hobbies like these can represent social support and can also help you express yourself and relax.

New research has shown the long-term effect of hobbies on depression. Its results are published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. Scientists collected data on 8,780 participants in a large English study on aging, whose average age was 67. They were interviewed twice - at the beginning of the study (in 2004-2005) and in 2016-2017. At the first survey, about 15% of them had depression; about 72% reported having a hobby.

According to the study, having a hobby was associated with a 32% decrease in the likelihood of developing depression. In addition, hobbyists with depression showed an average of 30% less symptoms of depression than those who did not have a hobby. These findings applied equally to both men and women.

For people who were depressed and had hobbies at the start of the study, the chances of recovery increased by 272% after they acquired the hobby.

Thus, new research confirms the effectiveness of social prescribing - primarily hobbies - in combating depression in the long term.