Hello and welcome to Living In The Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

It's no surprise that the American Psychological Association says the prolonged pandemic has heightened our stress levels, but when it comes to coping with that stress, more adults are turning to a children's toy.

Megan Frank is here to tell us more on how Lego, those little bricks that connect in so many ways, are no longer just for kids.

Megan, it's always great to see you.

- Hi, Brittany.

- OK, so tell us about this really fun Lego trend.

- Yes, I love it.

So Lego fans tell me that they are using Legos to de-stress, and they say it's an outlet that helps them to be creative and have fun.

- And you found a Lehigh Valley family who's really into this?

- Oh yes, the whole family's in on it.

The grandfather, the father, the kids, and they even have an entire room in their house dedicated to Legos.

- Wow, that's dedication.

- Yeah, and this is not your average Lego family.

This father son duo appeared on the Fox show Lego Masters in 2020, and they say you don't have to be an expert to reap the benefits of Lego building.

They say all you need is some time and a little imagination.

At Legoland Discovery Center in Montgomery County, Master Model Builder Mike Nieves teaches Lego building to kids and their parents.

- I'm going to show you how to put it together.

Take it apart and show you all the pieces that go inside.

- He says large scale displays show how far Lego builders can go with the hobby.

- The giraffe and the polar bear are made by a team.

Each of them took six model builders about 500 hours to build.

Adults were kids once, if they like Lego as a kid, most likely they're going to like Lego as an adult.

And it's only gotten better.

- I started when I was four, turning five, I was in Puerto Rico, and I remember I was in a Kmart store.

My mom, you know, she let go of my hand and I wandered to the toy aisle.

I begged my mom, you know, to buy me this, you know, this Lego box, this Lego castle.

- For as long as he can remember, 38-year-old Bethlehem resident Manny Garcia has kept a favorite childhood toy in his - life.

Lego This is El Moro of San Felipe.

This is a old fort located in the island of Puerto Rico and the capital of San Juan.

Right now, this is an idea on Legosideas.com, It's 453 pieces.

- He says building with the colorful plastic bricks helps him decompress from stressors in life.

- I put a lot of myself into these builds.

Lego has actually helped me and in times in my life makes everything else worthwhile and makes everything else better in life.

I have these module buildings, and I actually wanted to create a sense of play around these buildings.

And there you have it.

- Manny is known for his original Lego creations, some of which he built with his father.

68-year-old Nestor.

- Improvise.

- Improvise, improvise.

- The entire basement of Nestor's home is dedicated to Lego, and they call it Get Brick Studios.

- Hi everyone, I'm Manny.

- I'm Nestor.

- And welcome to Get Brick Studios.

- Welcome!

The father son duo have many Lego figures that look like them.

A YouTube channel.

- Make sure you subscribe and follow us as we embark on this journey that we're doing.

- Instagram and their own slogan.

Get into building.

- That's what we're talking about.

This is what we're talking about, GIB.

Get into building, everyone.

We have a lot of fun as a family building, especially with my grandkids when they come over, we take them down to the Lego room and we just have a lot of fun together.

- One of their original Lego builds is a city with its own subway.

- I love building these modules and this is our own creation, right, dad?

- Yeah.

- Again, this is solely our idea.

The subway and all the module buildings.

And this is a never ending process, like the creative aspect or the creative sense when it comes to Lego.

It's limitless.

- Nestor is a retired truck driver, and he says building Lego keeps him active.

- It's just fun.

- It's an outlet because it's creative.

- Nieves believes Lego building can break down fear and build up confidence.

- The challenge for Lego is definitely one of the draws for it.

We all have specialities and we all stick to what we like to build.

Some people like building trains.

Some people like building buildings.

It's a creative medium and same with other creative mediums.

It allows you to express yourself.

- Stan Theodoredis, a licensed counselor with Lehigh Valley counselors, says people may relate to building Lego on a deeper level.

- As children, we first start to explore with our hands, Exploring our own self, putting our hands in our mouth, doing all kinds of things.

There's something very primal, visceral in utilizing our hands.

There is a way that playing with blocks, which is in effect what Legos are it tends to provide me a cognitive break.

- A cognitive break that Theodoredis says can break down stress and anxiety.

- I mean, we use the term mindfulness a lot, and I tend to think of it more as mindless ness.

I don't want to be in my thoughts all the time.

Am I listening to myself?

OK, I should have done this.

I should have done that.

My hands are helping clear all of that away, and I'm activating different centers of my brain, which is critically important.

- He says the happy or relaxing feelings that some people get from building Lego is real, and that's a positive result.

- You were lighting up the reward centers of our brain, the dopamine receptors, the serotonin.

It's just a benefit overall.

- Back in Bethlehem, the Garcias reminisce about where their love of Lego has taken them.

Manny remembers the 2019 Instagram message from a Fox TV producer.

- He's like, Great Train.

Looks like you could apply for Lego Masters.

- To apply, he had to find a partner to build with.

- I didn't know whether he was joking with me on that, and I said, what is it exactly you want us to do here?

- I don't know anybody else that would have my back or that would support me as much as my dad.

- Make two of those.

Get two other small ones.

Oh, here, use that one.

Use that one for the corner and block it in.

- The Garcias say their Lego masters experience help them to build together in more ways than one.

- Me and my son, we have a way of understanding each other, you know, and because we're so close together with each other.

- Win or lose me and dad, we still came out father and son.

It made us stronger.

Our relationship, you know, is better.

You know, we are best friends.

- So whether people build for stress relief or to make stronger connections, many hopes they find what he and his dad found.

- It's very beneficial.

It's very constructive.

And even kids, you know, find that victory knowing that you know, they have this, this Lego box, it's a whole bunch of pieces on the table.

He finish his day and he feels like he conquered something like he's victorious.

Like I accomplished something and that goes to adults too.

Big adults or big kids.

- The Garcia family say beginner Lego builders should start small.

They recommend finding a set that won't overwhelm you, and they say it's important to set aside time to do this with little distractions.

- Megan, some of these sets get pretty elaborate, right?

- Oh yeah, and they can take hours to build, sometimes even days, months, I guess, if you're really got a big one.

I know some of them, like the map of the world is 11,000 pieces.

And the Titanic is 9,000 pieces.

- Wow.

Yeah, that's got to take months to complete and a lot of focus.

- Oh yeah, you're going to need to focus and you're going to want to finish it.

But they say that feeling when you're done, such a sense of accomplishment.

- Absolutely.

But as a parent, my fear is that I'm going to step on one of those little things.

- Oh, definitely, that's the worst pain ever.

But the Garcia family says, you know, maybe wear some shoes when you go to build just to be safe.

- Gotcha.

That's their tactic.

- They make sure they put it all in one room and wear shoes.

- Yes, very smart.

- Very fun.

I love that so much.

- Thank you so much, Megan.

- Thanks.

- And that'll do it for this edition of Living In The Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.