Calm Your Daily Stress - Stress Relief for the Busy Midlife Woman
Sep 8, 2026 · 23 min · 10 segments
Two sticks. Some yarn. A whole lot of calm. This episode shows how a simple, repetitive craft can quiet a busy mind, steady a racing nervous system, and become a steady anchor through life's hardest…
Alice O'ConnellGuestDenise EckertHostNow, have you looked into the research of how knitting helps your nervous system and how knitting helps overwhelm?
It's really interesting because there are quite broad studies out there on handicrafts in general.
Um, but the, the overwhelming understanding is that anything repetitive that we do with our hands, it signals to our nervous system that we're safe.
And within 10, 15 minutes of doing that repetitive action, so this could be crochet, knitting, embroidery, anything kind of small, repetitive that needs our hands, and then within a small window of time our breath is regulated, our nervous system is regulated.
But yeah, I look forward to the day that there are real studies that sp- specifically look at knitting, 'cause some of the stories I have had from my students of how it has helped them both physically and mentally is honestly mind-blowing at times.
Now, a lot of times, okay, for myself, I'm really bad, if I'm in front of the TV, 'cause I'm ADHD as well.
I, and unfortunately, I've gotten into the habit of the phone, and I play games on the phone.
But now that I'm listening to you- In my opinion, I haven't looked at the research or anything, because you've got the ads popping up constantly, it's not that soothing.
But with knitting, you've got the one thing, and you are doing something with your hands, you're touchy feely, and-
I think if you fo- if you use screens, which I fully understand, we all do it, we all use screens way too much, but they are stimulating, and in sort of short bursts they bring our dopamine up.
We've all done that thing where you've spent too long on your phone, and then you put it down feeling kind of ill and exhausted in a really strange way in your head.
Whereas knitting offers you the same release of energy, whether that be ADHD, whether that be anxiety, whatever it may be, it gives you that same outlet and opportunity, but f- it's tangible, it's soft, it's nourishing, and as I say, it's regulating.
So it is not spiking up your dopamine or even feeding your anxiety depending on what content you're even looking at and being served.
Whenever I teach a class in person, the best way I know how to describe this is everyone comes in on a group class quite, quite stressed, got a lot of energy because it's been a journey to get there, maybe the, it's been raining or whatever it may be, or there's busy stuff in their day, and then within 10 to 15 minutes, you f- it's like this hum just drops in the class, and everyone is just focusing on one stitch at a time.
Now, have you looked into the research of how knitting helps your nervous system and how knitting helps overwhelm?
It's really interesting because there are quite broad studies out there on handicrafts in general.
Um, but the, the overwhelming understanding is that anything repetitive that we do with our hands, it signals to our nervous system that we're safe.
And within 10, 15 minutes of doing that repetitive action, so this could be crochet, knitting, embroidery, anything kind of small, repetitive that needs our hands, and then within a small window of time our breath is regulated, our nervous system is regulated.
But yeah, I look forward to the day that there are real studies that sp- specifically look at knitting, 'cause some of the stories I have had from my students of how it has helped them both physically and mentally is honestly mind-blowing at times.
Now, a lot of times, okay, for myself, I'm really bad, if I'm in front of the TV, 'cause I'm ADHD as well.
I, and unfortunately, I've gotten into the habit of the phone, and I play games on the phone.
But now that I'm listening to you- In my opinion, I haven't looked at the research or anything, because you've got the ads popping up constantly, it's not that soothing.
But with knitting, you've got the one thing, and you are doing something with your hands, you're touchy feely, and-
I think if you fo- if you use screens, which I fully understand, we all do it, we all use screens way too much, but they are stimulating, and in sort of short bursts they bring our dopamine up.
We've all done that thing where you've spent too long on your phone, and then you put it down feeling kind of ill and exhausted in a really strange way in your head.
Whereas knitting offers you the same release of energy, whether that be ADHD, whether that be anxiety, whatever it may be, it gives you that same outlet and opportunity, but f- it's tangible, it's soft, it's nourishing, and as I say, it's regulating.
So it is not spiking up your dopamine or even feeding your anxiety depending on what content you're even looking at and being served.
Whenever I teach a class in person, the best way I know how to describe this is everyone comes in on a group class quite, quite stressed, got a lot of energy because it's been a journey to get there, maybe the, it's been raining or whatever it may be, or there's busy stuff in their day, and then within 10 to 15 minutes, you f- it's like this hum just drops in the class, and everyone is just focusing on one stitch at a time.
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