From time immemorial, cooking has always been seen as a common chore that most people cannot avoid. Although cooking is generally believed to be a physical exercise, some studies have shown that cooking can improve your mental health significantly. It is surprisingly true.
Let’s consider the following surprising ways cooking can boost your mental health.
It helps you use your creativity
According to an article in the Journal of Positive Psychology, individuals that cook, sing, write, doodle, and do other related activities tend to live happier than others who don’t. Whether you are just mixing dry yeast with other ingredients or creating a new recipe, you cannot do without utilizing your creativity to get the desired results. While such creativity may seem normal to you, you should realize that it can enhance your mental wellbeing.
It offers a special sense of accomplishment
When cooking for yourself or other individuals, you have to set a particular goal and then try to achieve it. This set of actions falls within a form of therapy that is called behavioural activation. Often applied for the treatment of anxiety and depression, behavioural action ensures that you focus on the reward that you are bound to receive after an action.
By cooking regularly, behavioural activation can assist you to be a better goal-oriented individual that doesn’t procrastinate. This will give you a sense of accomplishment.
In addition, it should be noted that the process of preparing the meals can also improve your mental wellbeing as it makes you feel useful not only to yourself but to other people around you. Such a sense of achievement can be great for your mental health.
It boosts your relationship with food
To develop your relationship with food, you need to start cooking more. This will create a positive mentality about food. Based on some findings, when you learn how to cook, your culinary skills and confidence will increase. This is a result of the personal belief that you will have when there is a need for you to cook anywhere. Such confidence transcends your connection with food as it can affect other aspects of your life. In fact, cooking can be helpful for you to connect with other friends, family, and other individuals.
It assists you to build your self-esteem
Another mental benefit of cooking is that it helps your self-esteem. When you cook, you know how impactful you can be to others around you. Hence, your self-esteem will be improved significantly.
It improves your wellbeing
Overall, cooking can play a key role in helping you lead a healthier life. It has been revealed that individuals that cook at home eat better and healthier meals than others. Furthermore, when you eat good meals, your gastrointestinal tract will synthesize lots of serotonin, which is an important neurotransmitter for managing your mood and reducing pains.
So, the next time you are preparing or cooking food, you must note that you are also taking actions that can help you boost your mental health. Therefore, if you don’t know how to cook, consider learning it now.