The surprisingly measurable health benefit of being ‘unproductive’

Wellness culture tends to frame time well spent in one of two ways: as something that directly improves your health, or as recovery that helps you show up better for the things that do. What rarely gets counted as either is the hour you spend painting badly, knitting something lopsided, or losing yourself in a recipe you found on the internet.

Research suggests it should.

What we can tell from the science

A large-scale study published in Nature Medicine tracked 93,000 adults aged 65 and older across 16 countries over several years, measuring the relationship between hobby engagement and wellbeing. The findings were consistent enough to be notable: people who had hobbies reported fewer depressive symptoms, higher happiness, better self-reported health, and greater life satisfaction—and this held regardless of gender, retirement status, or country.

The researchers also tested the direction of the relationship—and found that hobbies predicted better well-being over time, not the reverse. In other words, it wasn’t just that having a hobby appeared to make people happier. Happier people were more likely to have hobbies.

A separate study out of Drexel University looked at the more immediate, biological side of the picture. After just 45 minutes of making art, 75% of participants had measurably lower cortisol. Even better, experience didn’t matter. Beginners and practiced artists benefited equally.

The connection between hobbies and brain health

The mechanism isn’t complicated. Hobbies activate imagination, creativity, and sustained attention in ways that everyday tasks typically don’t. They offer a sense of mastery and purpose that’s separate from work or productivity. And when they’re social, they reduce isolation—a well-documented risk factor for cognitive decline.

Cortisol regulation matters here too. Chronic stress suppresses mood, disrupts sleep, and over time contributes to a range of health conditions. Anything that reliably brings those levels down has downstream effects worth taking seriously.

What you can take from this

Wellness culture has a way of turning every new belief into a protocol. This research is a reminder that some of the most meaningful health benefits don’t come from structure.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• You don’t need to be good at it. The Drexel study found no difference in cortisol outcomes between beginners and experienced artists. The benefit is in the doing, not the output.
• The type of hobby matters less. The Nature Medicine study found consistent benefits across a wide range of activities like arts, sports, gardening, social clubs. What mattered was engagement, not category.
• Passive entertainment didn’t appear to carry the same benefit. The distinction researchers draw is between activities that involve active engagement—making something, learning something, doing something—versus passive consumption.