In addition to being fun and creative, knitting has health benefits. It reduces stress, jumpstarts literacy, and reforms inmates. Studies show that knitting can even keep Alzheimer’s at bay!
Who would’ve thought that this seemingly innocuous craft also moonlights in health, education and wellness? Let’s investigate the health benefits of knitting, shall we?
1. Knitting Reduces Stress
The repetitive and rhythmic motions that make up knitting could be the key to relaxation. Dr Barry Jacobs of Princetown University found that animals who perform repetitive motions trigger a release of serotonin, the neurotransmitter associated with calmness and well-being.
This could explain why most devoted knitters swear by knitting as a de-stresser: doing it may cause a spurt of serotonin!
For English physiotherapist Betsan Corkhill, she saw the positive results of knitting in her patients.
Those who had been sluggish, stressed and depressed were able to soothe themselves through knitting. The more they knitted, the less worried and fearful they became.
“The rhythmic repetitive movements induce a form of meditation similar to mindfulness – that pleasant state of mind when you’re existing ‘in the moment’, not mulling over the past or fretting about the future” said Corkhill. “Knitters find they can ‘zone out’ – and escape into the sanctuary of a quiet mind” [The Daily Mail]
For Corkhill’s patients, knitting was a way to self-manage destructive thoughts and behaviours, which could explain this awesome bag:
2. Knitting Can Help Kids Read
At the alternative Waldorf School, first-graders learn how to knit before they learn to read! According to WBEZ:
“The process of knitting is like threading a story. Kids are learning focus and concentration. They’re gaining fine-motor skills, needed for writing. They’re seeing patterns. They’re moving from left to right, the same way you read. They’re gaining confidence.”
The Waldorf School has been incorporating handicrafts like knitting and weaving into its curriculum since its inception in 1919. To this day, knitting is part of the curriculum.
3. Knitting Can Keep Alzheimer’s at Bay
Mental exercises like playing board games, reading and knitting can lower the risk of dementia according to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic.
Although inconclusive, researchers believe that activities that stimulate the mind can create networks of connections between brain cells.
If some of these connections break down, the theory goes, others will take over. No damage done!
4. Knitting Teaches Important Life Skills
Lynn Zwerling, along with her friend, Sheila Rovelstad, started Knitting Behind Bars in 2009. It’s a program that teaches knitting to inmates in a minimum security prison in Maryland.
So far, the program has been a resounding success with an eager and growing wait list. To date, over 400 inmates have gone through their weekly knitting class.
Why did Zwerling start Knitting Behind Bars?
“I thought I could give a calming influence to people who really need this,” said Zwerling. “I thought what it takes to do knitting are skills vital to human existence — setting goals, completing a project, giving to somebody else…And I thought, maybe when they get back in the world, these men might choose to be calm and do something worthwhile.” [Baltimore Sun]
No one was more surprised with the results than Margaret M. Chippendale, the prison’s warden and resident skeptic.
She noticed lower rates of violence among the men who knit. “It’s very positive because you can see when you go into the room, the dynamics of their conversation; very calm, very soothing,” she says. “It radiates even when they leave the room and go out into the institution.”
[The most adorable part of this video, among many adorable moments: some inmates are peer-pressured to attend the knitting class!]
In the weekly class, men knit comfort dolls for traumatised children and hats for themselves, their own children and loved ones. It’s a chance to socialise, open up and forget about troubles.
For former inmate Richy Horton, knitting was the only peace he found in prison.
“People can’t really understand [that in prison] you’re completely separated from anything normal or real in the world,” he said. “You’re always told what to do and when to do it, so to have people come in and treat you like a human being means so much. [Zwerling and Rovelstad] came in and they were like my mom.” [Good]
Today, Knitting Behind Bars is still going strong. Check out their blog here.
5. Knitting Helps Overcome Addiction
The irony is that knitting itself is addictive, but the key is in swapping a truly self-destructive addiction for the relatively tame addiction of knitting.
Knitting support groups like this one in Massachusetts and Australia’s Knit to Quit group for smokers have been life-changing, largely because of the community support and knitting’s inherently soothing quality (see #1).
For these knitters, the health benefit of knitting is truly transformative.
Perhaps the most high profile addict-turned-knitter was Susan Gordon Lydon.
One of the founders of Rolling Stone magazine and a luminary of the women’s movement, Lydon became addicted to heroin in later life and found healing through knitting.
Her meditations on the craft are collected in her book The Knitting Sutra: Craft as a Spiritual Practice and the follow-up, published a year before her death in 2005, Knitting Heaven and Earth: Healing the Heart with Craft.
Both books are pretty awesome.
6. Knitting Encourages Community
From knitting circles to Ravelry (aka. Facebook for knitters) to local Stitch ‘n Bitchs and Knitting Behind Bars, no knitter is an island.
Today, as in ancient times, knitting is more social than ever, and everyone seems to love it.
A study published by the British Journal of Occupational Therapy reports that knitters who knit frequently are calm, happy and experience higher cognitive functioning. Win-win!
Have you experienced any of these health benefits of knitting? Let me know what you get out of knitting. I’d love to hear it!
Lovely article 🙂 I heard about Knitting Behind Bars a few weeks ago. That’s an awesome idea. People don’t often realise the soothing feeling knitting can create, and the benefits of feeling one’s achievements !
Totally! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all prisons had a knitting program?
It would definitely be awesome 🙂 and helpful !
Davina, this is a great post. The prison project reminded me of a project that a friend in Albuquerque has been working on to procure yarn for women in prison to have for knitting or crocheting. Here’s a link to her post: https://claudiadonnellydesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/Grant%27s%20Women%27s%20Prison%20Project
I think every community could use programs like this. I also think knitting could be a great skill for at-risk youth.
Thanks for highlighting these wonderful and inspiring benefits of knitting…love what you’re doing 🙂
Hey Amor! Thank you! I just went over and read your friend’s blog post. It’s so awesome what she’s doing! Wow! I think you’re absolutely right about knitting for at-risk youth. The research about knitting’s healing benefits are there! We just need to find a way to apply it. So encouraged by what your friend is doing!
Great article!
Great post!!
IT IS REALLY COOL THAT THE COMMUNITY IS HELPING OUT.
I’ve loved knitting for 60 some years. Was checking this website to see why I like it so much. I have a real need to keep my hands always busy. I have many hobbies including gardening which I have no problem doing from sun up till sundown. I have five acres which give me much satisfaction. We live in Ca in the winter and
I just have a small yard, so knitting, sewing and playing duplicate bridge are my passions. Life is good. I have lots of family to teach and make things for. Everyday I get in a little (or lot) if I have to stay up till two in the morning to work it in. I feel so fortunate that I love so many things beside my husband, children and family and friends.
Hey Carol!
What a nice comment. I totally relate to needing to keep my hands busy. It’s a very specific need, but, like you, it keeps me calm and so happy. I imagine that if I had a garden, I would go crazy with that too. Happy to hear that you have so many joys in your life, including the joy of knitting!
Davina
I like knitting very much, that is fun and creative and I have to admit that it’s so nice to do it.
I am currently working on my Master’s in Education and am doing my final research on the benefits of children knitting in school. You published a wonderful article outline some benefits (6 Unexpected Benefits of Knitting march 25,2014) I am wondering if you could tell me the author as I would like to properly cite them in my research.
Kind Regards,
Colleen Klein
Hey Colleen,
All the blog posts on this site are written by me unless otherwise specified. So feel free to credit Davina Choy with the post.
Also, I’m suuuper interested in your research paper! I’m sure you’ve already heard of the Waldorf School and their inclusion of handicrafts like knitting in their curriculum. I’ve always wondered if they’ve done any scientific studies measuring its benefits. Anyway, if you’re okay with it, I’d love to read your final paper! Just drop me a line at davina@sheepandstitch.com!
It’s true… Knitting is addictive. I feel restless if I don’t do it atleast once a day or I don’t finish a project
really saved my sanity when I was recovering from a series of back injuries. I’m a professional weaver, but couldn’t at my looms for a long time. First, I thought that, well, it was time to learn to turn a heel. It escalated from there. LOL BTW, hand-knit socks are a great little gift for somebody having a hard time for any reason..they make people smile, even laugh! Even when I’ve made them for myself, they leave me grinning ear-to-ear when I put them on!!!
Hey Nancy! That’s so great that you could move from weaving to knitting! I’ve been wanting to learn to weave for a long time. Do you prefer knitting or weaving? And you’re so right about handknit socks. I love knitting and receiving them! The downside for me is that my heals are always calloused, so I have to save my handknit socks for padding around the house instead of wearing them with shoes.
So happy with the new website. Kept checking youtube for updates but was sad 🙁 not to see new ones. Thought you quit posting. Your tutorials are wonderful for visual learners as myself.
I signed up right away on your new improved site.
I’ve be a knitter for a long time and know there is always something new to learn or need to refresh old techniques . Thank you for helping all of us.
Happy knitting . Glad your website is back in full swing.
Hi! Thanks so much for your nice comment! Yeah, the website was a bit of a wasteland for awhile, but I’ve rededicated myself to Sheep and Stitch! This time I’ve got a plan and more time to work on the site! If you’ve been following on YouTube, I just published a new fingerless gloves tutorial on Tuesday! You can also find it in the pattern section of this website. Thanks so much for supporting this site! 😀
Hi I find recently that knitting everyday gives me peace of mind and joy when I complete the item. It also suppress my anxiety, which I most recently discovered develop. It’s good craft .
I have high blood pressure, 99% of the time I take my knitting to the Dr with me. The nurse can take my BP (it will be high) she can step out & let me knit for 20 minutes & either the nurse or my Dr retake it & it’s gone down. I’ve had both of my knees replaced and knit up to being taken back for surgery. It’s the only thing that kept me calm.
I suffer from chronic pain due to auto immune disease attacking my joints and tendons. I find knitting helps with pain and brain fog
My Mum has always knitted since I can remember and I have taken this up recently …..as a medic not only do I find it extremely calming when I come home from work, ( just 2 rows are enough) but it’s also given my Mum and I so much more to talk about!
She was amazed at how effective the demonstration videos are – which is not how she learnt the art ….
Thank you Davina- your videos are very watchable, funky and helpful, increasing the chances of the younger generation taking this up, which is so essential I think, in this world of gadgets, games and instant gratification!