{"id":8668,"date":"2024-06-28T09:06:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T09:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=8668"},"modified":"2024-06-28T09:27:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T09:27:10","slug":"why-creating-things-with-your-hands-is-good-for-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=8668","title":{"rendered":"Why Creating Things With Your Hands Is Good for Your Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Creating stuff is good for your brain.<\/p>\n

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I once decorated a mirror with shells, but I keep it in a closet. I\u2019m fond of it, even though it looks a little sloppy. Sometimes I\u2019ll debate whether to toss it, and then gently put it back on the shelf.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, a lot of us have strong attachments to things we make \u2014 even when they\u2019re kind of hideous, said Michael Norton, a professor of business administration at Harvard and the author of \u201cThe Ritual Effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Norton once took a stone-carving class, he told me, and tried to chisel a symbol (\u201cthe best description I can give is a circle shape with flames\u201d), but part of the stone broke off \u201cso it looked like it was made by a toddler.\u201d Yet every time he moved homes, he carefully wrapped the stone nub in bubble tape and brought it with him.<\/p>\n

This is because we often see the things we make as part of our identities, said Dr. Norton, who has conducted research<\/a> on how people come to value objects. Our creations help us \u201cfeel a sense of confidence and a sense of mastery that is really hard to get sometimes in other places,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Making something with your hands is also good for your brain<\/a>. And research shows that do-it-yourself projects, whether planting an herb garden or building a birdhouse, are rewarding; they can help boost happiness<\/a> and lower stress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When was the last time you made something, just for the fun of it? If you want to become a maker (or if it\u2019s been a while), here\u2019s how to get started.<\/p>\n

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Creating stuff is good for your brain.I once decorated a mirror with shells, but I keep it in a closet. I\u2019m fond of it, even though it looks a little sloppy. Sometimes I\u2019ll debate whether to toss it, and then gently put it back on the shelf.As it turns out, a lot of us have strong attachments to things we make \u2014 even when they\u2019re kind of hideous, said Michael Norton, a professor of business administration at Harvard and the author of \u201cThe Ritual Effect.\u201dDr. Norton once took a stone-carving class, he told me, and tried to chisel a symbol (\u201cthe best description I can give is a circle shape with flames\u201d), but part of the stone broke off \u201cso it looked like it was made by a toddler.\u201d Yet every time he moved homes, he carefully wrapped the stone nub in bubble tape and brought it with him.This is because we often see the things we make as part of our identities, said Dr. Norton, who has conducted research on how people come to value objects. Our creations help us \u201cfeel a sense of confidence and a sense of mastery that is really hard to get sometimes in other places,\u201d he added.Making something with your hands is also good for your brain. And research shows that do-it-yourself projects, whether planting an herb garden or building a birdhouse, are rewarding; they can help boost happiness and lower stress.When was the last time you made something, just for the fun of it? If you want to become a maker (or if it\u2019s been a while), here\u2019s how to get started.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8670,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8671,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668\/revisions\/8671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}