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I am a stress baker. If I have a lot of deadlines coming up, my friends and family can usually tell from the baked goodies I bring. The process of baking is mindful by design: you measure ingredients precisely, add the right ones (ideally without confusing salt and sugar), engage multiple senses, and rely on repetitive movements like kneading. The bonus is a result that you can enjoy or share. With the holidays coming up, it doesn’t hurt if your annual batch of cookies takes some of the pressure off the season, and there’s scientific evidence that baking can reduce stress.
Baking as a coping strategy: Lessons from the pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that cooking or baking can improve mood and reduce anxiety. Cooped up at home, many people turned to baking as a coping strategy, as waves of banana bread and sourdough starters that filled social media. Research shows that people who identified cooking or baking as helpful during lockdown reported lower levels of anxiety and depression and higher psychological well-being. Baking also fostered a sense of community: people shared recipes online, compared sourdough progress, or baked with family members at home. This social connection is psychologically protective and enhances the stress-relieving effects.
Baking is also a creative outlet. Whether you’re perfecting a recipe or decorating cookies, the process combines structure with room for experimentation. Creative tasks, even brief ones like drawing or sculpting, can reduce the stress hormone cortisol. Emerging studies on culinary therapy also show improved affect, higher engagement, and reductions in self-reported stress after structured cooking.
How baking engages the brain
There haven’t been any neuroimaging studies specifically examining the effects of baking, but the mechanisms are likely similar to those activated during mindfulness. Mindfulness practices cultivate present-moment attention and reduce rumination. Mindfulness is associated with changes in brain networks involved in mind-wandering, alongside reduced amygdala reactivity that modulates stress responses. Baking naturally supports this shift. The task requires continuous attention: measuring, timing, and observing textures. The process also relies heavily on multisensory integration. Mixing and kneading engage tactile and proprioceptive senses; smells and tastes activate olfactory and gustatory systems; repetitive movements recruit motor circuits. These combined inputs likely increase activity in the insula, a region central to integrating bodily sensations and supporting interoceptive awareness, a mechanism also strengthened during mindfulness meditation. Together, these processes can shift the brain into a more regulated, present-focused state, lowering stress and improving mood.
Putting mindful baking into practice
Knowing that baking can ease stress doesn’t mean it automatically will. If you’re rushing, multitasking, or trying to finish cookies before the office party, you likely won’t notice the stress relief. To turn your baking session into a mindfulness exercise, you can consider the following points:
- Slow down the steps: Treat the recipe as a sequence to focus on rather than a task to complete as fast as possible.
- Use all your senses: Notice textures, smells, and temperatures to keep your attention grounded.
- Share the results: Social connection amplifies the reward response. Also, handing someone a fresh cookie never hurts.
- Don’t aim for perfection: Treat mistakes the way mindfulness treats distractions, acknowledge them, and move on.
Happy baking!
Credits
Author: Helena Olraun
Buddy: Siddharth Chaturvedi
Editor: Vivek Sharma
Translator: Helena Olraun
Editor translation: Wieger Scheurer
Featured image by JÉSHOOTS on pexel.com
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