How Cooking Assists in Tackling Anxiety, Depression and Improves Mental Health
Numerous ways in which cooking helps when you are going through an episode of anxiety, restlessness, or panic attacks.
Feeling anxious about nothing, in particular, we all have had days where we felt helpless and petrified. Is it the future haunting me? Is this about the sad movie I watched last night? Did I unintentionally hurt someone? Am I expecting too much from life? We often drown ourselves in these futile thoughts that cause anxiety, making us weak and distanced from the actual world.
However, what if I tell you there might be a simple break away from anxiety and reoccurring panic attacks? The escape route from my sadness, remorse, and depressed thought process of my mind has been COOKING for the past few months. It has saved me from drowning in thoughts that do me no good but make my situation worse.
Scrolling through quick recipes and finding the ones that I can connect to. Looking for ingredients in the kitchen and then searching up for alternatives. Grating freshly chopped ginger and garlic to make their paste. The wait for butter to get to room temperature. Looking for onion powder and then cutting the boneless chicken into perfect cubes. Every time I chop a vegetable, it is like I am cutting off my problems. All of this not only brings me immense joy, but it gives off a sense of responsibility leading me to discover something I am good at, which I might have never tried otherwise.
An article on Psychology Today explains how culinary therapy is a widely known and proven technique used for treatment by some mental health experts and clinics to this day to help people endure different psychological problems. The past year has been rough on so many of us; we lost people we loved, jobs we needed, and the freedom we once had, all because of COVID-19.
Being home most of the time, people looked out for distractions to elude the horrific news reported globally. Some found joy in writing, some found pleasure in cycling, while some of us turned our attention towards cooking. 56% of people from the US choose to cook as a habit they developed while staying at home through the pandemic. These baby steps we all took collectively to improve our mental health made an enormous difference in our lives.
How does Cooking Help?
Cooking Brings in Sentiments other than Sadness and Disappointment
Going through anxiety or panic attacks, a person is usually under the impression of devastation, unhelpfulness, feeling like a complete failure. Cooking, however, makes you live so many other emotions other than what your mind wants to improvise. The positive impact of these emotions on our deteriorating mental health is significant.
The excitement when you work on a recipe is unexplainable. You look forward to what you are going to create from your own hands. You have the power to make something great, solely depending on the direction you take your cooking skills. You have something to look forward to that is YOUR creation, coming out of YOUR skills.
By the end of the day, when you have cooked something from scratch, it transmits the feeling of accomplishment, an idea that you can do good. It makes you feel far more worthy than how your mind has made you believe. The best feeling in the world for someone who belittles themselves because of poor mental health is knowing there is something you can do, something you have control over.
Cooking Works as a Therapy
People tackle their mental problems through cooking. In order to improve declining self-esteem, cooking comes off as a great tool. Cooking is a technique used for therapy all around the world.
Julian Ohana, an active culinary therapist, talks about the significance cooking holds in terms of mindfulness, time control, communication, and problem-solving ability. She believes all these skills combined can help people become less apprehensive and more content.
Mental health experts have been vocal about the benefits cooking and baking provides for people struggling with poor mental health. Through practicing cooking, people can get back control of their lives. They can bring back the feeling of joy and excitement that has been long gone from their daily lives because of anxiety and depression. The time management required for cooking supports people in taking over the charge, which gives them a feeling of power. By encountering unique problems during cooking, their mind distracts them from the actual real-world problems. Even if this practice goes on for a few hours, it can cause massive mental health improvements.
Cooking as a Great Distraction
When you are going through awful days, even the slightest bit of distraction can help divert your mind to something better, more cheerful, and less sad. What if I tell you this distraction can be super productive as well? Cooking not only works for killing time, but it’s also a great distraction from all the underlying worries you have that have been eating you up for a while. We all need an escape from reality when it feels like a nightmare. Cooking is an exceptional escape route for so many people out there, including me.
When you follow a recipe, it has the power to divert your focus to someplace else, a place less intimidating and more dynamic. When you indulge in an activity such as cooking, your mind blocks out all the unnecessary distractions, leaving you with the best “me time” one could ask.
Studies prove that preparing meals for yourself or others is therapeutic, backed by mental health experts and researchers. It also helps reduce stress levels and improve the quality of your mood. We can slide the pressure mind imposes on us through a panic attack under a carpet when our entire focus is on finishing a dish we have been working hard to cook.
Cooking as a Coping Mechanism
Cooking works as a great coping mechanism that helps you cope with your fears, anxieties, panic attacks, and depression by completely switching your concentration to something that will give you a positive outcome. The experience is rewarding as it gives you something to eat that you have made yourself from scratch. It leaves you with the impression that you can achieve great things during life after taking control of the situation.
Cooking as a coping mechanism is not restricted to preparing the meal, but the entire process is exceptional for thought management. The whistling of the pressure cooker, the sound of crunchy lettuce leaves, heating the grainy bread, the pungent smell of the onion before soaking them in salt-water, the smoky chicken ready to be taken out of the oven, and finally, the flavorful taste of the spicy and creamy pasta prepared BY YOU, FOR YOU is an appreciable method for improving your mental health with the support of senses.
Your Cooking DOES NOT Need to be Perfect
The whole idea of cooking is to take yourself away from the stress, not to increase it. Cooking is an art that needs creativity and diversity. Creativity has no limits and does not require one to be perfect. The instructions you get will give you an overall idea of the procedure or the ingredients. Rest depends on which direction you want to take your dish. You can make all the changes you like because this is your dish. The skill does not only improve your mental health, but it also helps you expand your knowledge regarding a whole new activity.
It’s okay not to follow the same recipe. It’s okay to be creative. It’s okay to take over and make changes. It shows that you can decide on your own.
Cooking is not limited to the food itself by being more active and engaging in healthier and productive tasks; you can switch on some music while preparing food. You can also have other people around you while preparing the meal. A study carried out in France shows 79% of the French people include their children as they prepare home-meals to bring together the family members. This way, humans feel connected to the outer world, which is another peculiar therapeutic way to tackle anxiety. Connecting with people does not only mean individuals present physically around you. We can share opinions with people nationally or internationally who follow the same recipes as you through different social media forums.
So, instead of waiting for someone to pull you out of your bed and save your day, become your own savior. Cook something, just anything that can help you mentally and emotionally. Remember to let your creative side shine and not suppress it by limiting its options.
