5 reasons why cooking is good for mental health | lifestyle

In 2012, Irish novelist Marian Keyes published a book called Saved by Cake, in which she describes how baking helped her through difficult times when she couldn’t even get out of bed.

There is something in the aroma that rises during cooking that gives us a feeling of comfort, improves our psychological state and puts us in a better mood. Baking is a wonderful hobby at home, through which we engage in purposeful creative activity that provides us with delicious food, requires physical exertion, helps improve our psychological state and makes us more powerful, experts say.

As author Natalia Ningthogam noted in a report published by the Indian Health Shots website, simple things like cutting vegetables into small pieces, boiling water and putting different ingredients together to prepare a dish would have a positive effect on your mental health.

She pointed out that you can choose the method of cooking that suits you, whether it’s frying or steaming. The author mentioned some of the most important mental health benefits of cooking:

• Cooking is good for social relationships

Cooking can eliminate people’s sense of loneliness, which is one of the biggest threats to physical and mental health. On the one hand, eating with family and friends gives a sense of security and camaraderie as it brings people together, and on the other hand; It can help improve social relationships.

Moreover, the lack of time the spouses spend together is a problem in a capitalist society based on competition, and due to the busy work schedules and the many obligations and problems that have to be dealt with on a daily basis, the spouses can hardly each other. to see.

For this reason, having the couple cook together for the remaining hours of the day, instead of sitting around watching TV and ordering pizza, can be relaxing once in a while, and cooking times with your partner give you spaces to discuss.

• Cooking gives you a sense of accomplishment

Mental health professionals often recommend setting manageable goals with desirable rewards, which makes meal prep a great short-term goal, whether or not you have mental health issues.

Watching your ingredients turn into nutritious and delicious food is satisfying and leads to a sense of accomplishment which is a major factor in building a person’s confidence.

While some people view cooking as a burden, others view it as a happy pastime. The concentration required by the physical act of cooking, such as chopping and stirring ingredients, can be particularly beneficial if you are stressed. This will help you focus fully on the job at hand.

This is one of the immediate benefits of cooking; It frees the mind and distracts it from the stresses of everyday life.

• Stimulate creativity

There are many culinary cultures that we can research and adapt to our tastes, and making surprises for the other side is what the couple appreciates and enjoys when cooking together, and they will find that they can also better spread the household chores and obligations with each other.

• A healthy relationship with food

Cooking at home can have a positive effect on your relationship with food. Taking matters into your own hands and learning to cook for yourself will not only boost your confidence, but it will also relieve the anxiety you feel when you don’t know what to cook for dinner, for example.