Here’s
to your health
The healing power of the arts
For thousands of years, people have searched for the meaning
and beauty of life in music, painting, poetry and other
arts. Now scientists are finding that the arts can benefit
both
your mental and physical health.
Current research is following a number of paths. Some
scientists measure the natural substances your body
produces when
you’re
listening to music or otherwise exposed to the arts. Others
look at what happens when you are active in the creative
process. Researchers are now investigating how the arts
can help us recover from disease, injury and psychological
trauma.
Many scientists agree that the arts can help reduce stress
and anxiety, improve well-being and enhance the way we
fight infection.
Music plays an important role throughout our lives. Parents
worldwide sing and coo to their babies. And recent
studies have found evidence that singing releases
substances
that serve as the brain’s own natural pain-killers. Singing
also increases the “bonding hormone” that helps
us feel a sense of trust. And when we listen to music,
levels of molecules important for fighting infection can
rise.
A recent report from Finnish scientists showed that
listening to music helps stroke patients recover
both memory and
focused attention and also reduce post-stroke depression
and confusion.
Other studies suggest that stroke patients may improve
faster if they sing, rather than speak, as part of
their rehabilitation.
Scientists are also studying how art therapy can
help to ease pain and stress and improve quality
of life.
Megan
Robb, a certified art therapist, says, “When traumatic memories
are stored in the brain, they’re not stored as words
but as images. Art therapy is uniquely suited to access
these memories.”
Once you draw or paint these images, she explains,
you can then progress to forming words to describe
them.
This externalizes
the trauma—moves it out of isolation, onto the page
and into a positive exchange with the therapist. This process,
Robb says, gives you “an active involvement in your
own healing.”
Several small studies have suggested that art
therapy can help improve health status, quality
of life
and coping behaviors. It can improve depression
and fatigue
in cancer
patients
on chemotherapy, and help prevent burnout in
caregivers. It’s also been used to help prepare children for
painful medical procedures, as well as to improve the speech
of children
with cerebral palsy.
And then there’s writing. Expressive writing about
traumatic, stressful or emotional events has been shown
to have a number of health benefits. Dr. James W. Pennebaker
of the University of Texas at Austin has designed several
studies to show the links between writing and health.
In a series of exercises, healthy student
volunteers who wrote about traumatic experiences
had more
positive moods,
fewer illnesses and better measures of
immune-system function than those who wrote about
superficial
experiences. Even
6 weeks later, the students who’d written about what
upset them reported more positive moods and fewer illnesses
than those who’d written about everyday experiences.
In another study of students vulnerable
to depression, those who did expressive
writing
exercises showed
significantly lower depression symptoms,
even after 6 months, than
those who had written about everyday
matters.
Remember that the arts are no substitute
for medical help when you need it.
But they can
still bring
health benefits.
If you enjoy writing or any other art,
go for it. You don’t
have to be “good” at them for them to be good
for you.
For
information on a variety of health-related topics, click
on Links.
[Source: National Institute of Health]
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