Do this a minimum once a month and extend your life to up to 10 years – no gym required!!
In response to a growing body of evidence that art can radically improve both physical and mental health in effective and measurable ways, did you know more and more health care practitioners are prescribing arts engagement a part of treating a wide array of conditions, including: obesity, heart disease, chronic pain, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, loneliness and depression.
The power of diverse arts practices to promote healing, well-being and even longevity provides benefits that rank right up there with exercise, nutrition and sleep.
Could this be why the arts have evolved over millennia to become central to human experience?
Do we have to be “good” at art to reap its benefits?
No. The art you’re making doesn’t have to be good for it to be valuable for you. One study showed that doing just 45 minutes of any kind of art lowered the stress hormone cortisol by as much as 25%.
The finished product (piece of artwork) is the residual, the artifact. It’s the power of “being” in the process that is so beneficial.
Art that pushes us beyond our limits helps form new neural pathways that might not otherwise develop in our day-to-day. Exercising these through art can help build resilience to get us through the suffering and uncertainties of life.
Some practical ways to build this into your daily, weekly or month rituals:
Choose the best time of day and be flexible. Direct health benefits increases our “happy hormones reducing anxiety and stress, allows us to subconsciously tap into the right side of your brain, improves problem solving and imagination.
Daily practice of journalizing. Doodle, sketch whatever comes to mind in front of you like your breakfast or head out in nature.
To help tackle an issue at hand take 3 pieces of paper, try to keep out of your head and don’t think. Draw yourself on the first sheet, draw your challenge on the second. On the third sheet draw yourself and the challenge resolved.
Ref: CTV News CNN/Digital May 31st, 2024