10 Best Hobbies for People with Anxiety to Calm You Down Instantly

Being physically active is essential for managing anxiety because exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, hormones that makes us naturally feel good.

It also helps to release excess energy, which if not released would make you more anxious.

But the trouble is, anxiety as a condition can be very exhausting and overwhelming and so it is often hard to find the motivation to do any form of exercise.

That’s why I always recommend gentle physical activities for people with anxiety, and in my experience, walking is the best form of exercise for anxiety relief.

I love it so much because it helps to relieve anxiety quickly and it’s also practical because you can always take a quick walk somewhere near where you live.

On top of that, I love to combine listening to calming music or empowering books while walking because that way I am practicing two hobbies at once which always makes me feel even better and less anxious.

So, put on your headphones and go for a 30-minute walk today. The more you walk, the more you will enjoy it.

Spending time with animals – by playing with them and stroking them – can be a great hobby for managing anxiety.

Getting a pet would be of course an amazing  solution for that, but it’s also not essential.

You can always volunteer at rescue centers by offering to walk their dogs or play with their cats.

The reason animals have such a great effect on your mental health is because, according to research  interacting with them can increase the levels of “the love hormone” oxytocin and decrease levels of “the stress hormone” cortisol, which has a calming effect on the body and mind.

For example, one study, showed that,

I had a beautiful German Shephard for 12 years, and he would always come to me when I was feeling very anxious. Stroking him and seeing how happy he is with so little, would always bring me back to the present moment, which is the only moment where we can find anxiety relief and calmness.

It might sound silly but dancing in your house or flat when no one is watching is another great hobby for releasing tension and anxiety!

I like to put on my favorite songs and dance away like crazy, doing lots of jumping and freestyle movements. 🙂

If you haven’t tried this before, I urge you to try as soon as possible to see what I mean.

The reason this activity feels so good is because, when we suffer from anxiety, we find it very difficult to relax, and let go.

Well, dancing can really help you to let go big time.

If you live with lots of people, you might not have any time on your own. But you can always lock yourself in the bathroom and do a few crazy movements!

Or if you have a trampoline in the garden, then start jumping! This has a similar effect.

Yoga is an ancient technique that is very beneficial for managing anxiety.

Anxiety makes us tense, irritable and inflexible, while yoga can work to reverse all of these, plus nourish us with a whole host of other health benefits. 

A lot of people are hesitant about trying yoga because they think they won’t be able to get into certain positions, but I can assure you that anyone can practice yoga.

Yoga is about connecting with your own body, mind and soul, and everyone else is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what the other people are doing, all that matters is that you are listening to your body and doing what you can do.

I have fallen in love with yoga, and it has become a big part of me.

Rest assured that I am not in any way amazing. I just practice for myself and I don’t care how I look to anyone else.

Yoga has helped me to improve my breathing which is essential for managing anxiety.

Healthy eating is necessary for reducing and managing anxiety. But when we start to eat healthily it can hard to stick with it because we don’t know how to make tasty meals that are healthy and also, we often don’t know what to eat.

That’s why searching for healthy recipes and experimenting in the kitchen is a great hobby to adopt because it can help you eat healthily long-term, which can make enormous positive changes to your anxiety levels.

But that’s not all, cooking as an activity has shown to benefit mental health.

One study showed that adolescents with the most cooking skills reported a greater sense of mental well-being, as well as less symptoms of depression.

To help you get started with this hobby, check out the following articles for anti-anxiety ingredients and tips, and then look for awesome recipes that are in line with what’s mentioned in these blog posts.

Watching inspirational movies and documentaries, or movies based on a true story, can be very uplifting and motivational to encourage us to make positive changes in our lives.

I have found that watching such movies benefited me the most in the evening after a long day to help me calm down and unwind.  

You can start with the following movie:

To tell you the truth, I can’t draw to save my life, but I absolutely love ‘creating’ pictures for my wall using puzzles and coloring books.

I find these activities extremely relaxing and fun, and it’s also a great way for me to be present.

The amazing thing about these hobbies is that you can keep doing a little bit every day, and have a wonderful picture at the end.

According to Grayson Perry, an English contemporary artist and writer, “Craft is a form of making which generally produces an object that has a function: such as something you can wear, or eat or drink from”.

Crafts include activities such as embroidery, knitting, candle making, sewing, glass making and so on, and can be a great way to get creative, become present and make something that you can actually use or sell, making this hobby also rewarding.

In my experience the best hobbies for people with anxiety are activities that you can easily adopt as part of your overwhelmed and anxious life.

As someone who suffered from chronic anxiety for 20 years, I know all too well how hard it is to find the energy to introduce extra activities into your life when you feel daily drained by irritability, nervousness, and “mental business”.

For that reason, I have found that activities such as listening to calming music or empowering books while taking a daily walk, going to a gentle yoga class, writing expressively, connecting with animals, dancing in your bedroom, watching inspiring movies before bedtime, putting together puzzles, coloring, and cooking enjoyable meals are some of the best hobbies for people with anxiety.