Can you guess what Sheffielder's favourite 'lockdown' hobbies have been?

With the world set to face social restrictions for some time, we’ve all had more spare time on our hands - allowing us to focus on a new hobby or spend time on existing ones.

For some, being at home has given us the perfect excuse to binge-watch TV, whilst for others it’s meant picking up a new culinary hobby like baking banana bread.

Searches for ‘baking’ and ‘puzzles’ saw an increase of 238 per cent in Sheffield during the past three months, while painting was found to be the most popular hobby search term for the UK.

Gardening has seen the biggest increase in Google searches across all European countries with a 203 per cent growth during COVID-19.

PhDr. Ivana Poku said: “Hobbies have a positive impact on your mental and physical health, they give your breaks a purpose, relieve stress, and give you a sense of happiness regardless of your age.

“Puzzling keeps you mentally active, which can delay Dementia and Alzheimer's and in small children, it is great for developing physical skill.

“Exploring new skills is beneficial, especially in isolation, when we feel stuck and cannot do some of the things we used to do.”

When combining search data from across Europe, the most popular hobbies that people are Googling are yoga (773,870 Google searches a month), cooking (630,440), exercise (621,870), painting (621,620), and puzzles (550,230).

Ed Fleming, managing director at Savoo - which compiled the data - said: “We all have a lot more time on our hands than usual and as we continue to go through lockdown and social distancing, picking up a hobby can be just the thing we need for our mental well-being.

“Starting a new hobby or continuing an existing one doesn’t mean you need to be spending a fortune getting all the right equipment.

“We at Savoo have seen a 488 per cent increase in searches for hobby-related vouchers on our site.

“Researching what you need to take part in your activity and the recommended equipment can save you from spending unnecessary money.”

View the original study here.