Last week, Dr Emily Musgrove gave us a lightbulb moment when she explained that being still isn’t the same as resting.
I wanted to understand why lounging on the couch scrolling your phone could be so different for the nervous system compared to lounging while doing some knitting or an embroidery project, for example.
It’s the same position and *technically* our hands are busy in both scenarios. So if one leaves us flat and the other leaves us restored, what's actually going on?
The answer, Dr Em says, comes down to “generativity”, or the making of something that wasn’t there before.
“So when I'm using my hands to do crafting, for example, or sewing or crocheting, there is a sense here of creating and generating something. Whereas the scrolling with my hands, there is absolutely no generativity in that; there's no accessing the parts of my brain that are keeping me alive in some ways.” — Dr Emily Musgrove
That generativity gives our brain the quiet satisfaction of seeing something exist that wasn’t there before: a row of stitches, some colour on a page, more pieces in a puzzle.
And there's some hard science behind that feeling. In one study, 75% of participants showed reduced cortisol, our main stress hormone, after just 45 minutes of creative activity. It didn't matter how “good” they were at it either.
When we’re creating, there’s an element of PROGRESS that we don’t experience in a social media feed. While scrolling, there’s no point where you sit back and think, “Wow! Look what I did!” It's designed to never end... which is exactly why it never satisfies or restores us.
So, if you've ever wondered why you can spend a whole evening chilling on the couch but wake up feeling like you didn't rest at all, this might be part of why. Your hands were busy, but they weren't making anything. And the making, it turns out, is the part we all need.