Artigianati.com

by Charity Vogel

Dr. Cynthia Ambres says spending half an hour a day working at an “active” hobby can improve your health.

You don’t have to tell Joan Raab about how knitting and crochet helped her through chemotherapy and its aftermath—twice.

The Grand Island resident knows her hobbies made a difference in her health.

“That really helped me through it, having some small piecework to work on,” said Raab, who survived two bouts with breast cancer in the past 15 years. “If you have a hobby, it’s easier to go through it.”

She’s right, many doctors now say.

Hobbies—the kind that engage your mind and body, and relax you while you work at them—can make surprising differences in your stress levels, experts said.

And by lowering your stress, hobbies and pastimes can boost your overall health and wellness, since stress has been shown to take a negative toll on your health in key ways.

“There is evidence now that stress thwarts the immune system,” said Dr. Cynthia Ambres, chief medical officer of HealthNow New York. “Our mental health is really the driver of our physical health.”....

Read more at  -  http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/03/08/980734/hobbies-can-help-reduce-stress.html