When you’re stressed, do you find yourself heading to your kitchen and whipping out your mixer and bowls? You’re not alone. Great news, though: baking can help significantly with mental health!
Doughp Founder Kelsey Moreira knows a thing or two about baking's ability to bring you back from a tough mental place. After getting sober in 2015, she rediscovered her love of baking. Cookies to be precise...and occasionally not always baking that dough. By rekindling her love of baking, she discovered one way to cope with addiction and decided to bring it to the masses.
But you don't have to just take our word for it. Stress baking totally works. It's just science! In a 2016 study, it was found that those who engaged in creative activities—including cooking and baking—had a “higher activated positive effect.” Basically, those who indulged in their cookie creativity “cultivat[ed] positive psychological functioning.”
“Baking has the benefit of allowing people creative expression,” said Donna Pincus, associate professor of psychological and brain scientists at Boston University, to HuffPost. “[And] If you’re focusing on smell and taste, on being present with what you’re creating, that act of mindfulness in that present moment can also have a result in stress reduction.”
“Baking helps me process my energy into something constructive,” says Marissa H., a social media consultant. “I can create and keep my mind active.”
Is this truly a surprise effect, though? After all, culinary therapy is a thing. Just ask Michael Kocet, PhD, about his take on it. While teaching a counseling class, he thought about how different therapies—art, dance, music—existed, but culinary did not. So, he took a chance to put his idea to the test.
And, Dr. Kocet found, it is a natural conduit to healing. “If a client burns something and grows frustrated because he or she burned a dish, you can process with them,” he said to The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Julie Ohana, a culinary arts therapist, backs up Dr. Kocet. In an interview for HuffPost, she said “If someone is really aware and able to, then yes, we will make therapeutic connections in the kitchen.”
Ultimately, cooking can be a meditative, gentle experience. As Tiffany C., a dancer, states, it helps in our current world. “The thing about baking is you really have to be precise,” says Tiffany. “It takes your mind off of the drama in the world.”
With Doughp, you can eat or heat the dough - making baking easier than ever. And with every purchase of Doughp, 1% goes towards providing addiction and mental health resources to those who need it most.
