This is an article “How Your Brain Works When You Do Some Art” by Marc Primo Warren
There are many ways art can affect our day to day lives and in some moments, we feel the urge to just take out our pen and pencils and draw. For some, painting on a canvas is one good way to relieve stress but the best thing about doing art is that it allows us to express ourselves in ways that words cannot describe. Though we really can’t define how art works for us individually, at least we can get an idea on how it serves as brain food when we try and create our own masterpieces, once in a while.
Aside from being fun and entertaining, creating art can take us on a more profound level of consciousness that we haven’t tapped within ourselves before. It can clear your head and ignite intrapersonal communication which helps you understand your own feelings and emotions while relaxing your whole being.
However, that’s only the intangible sense of creating art. Scientifically, engaging yourself in some form of art has been proven to distract you from your worries, exercise your mind to make it healthier and more creative, build self-esteem, and foster more connectivity with others.
Here are two great benefits that we get from creating art during our spare time:
It gives us hope
There’s no other activity that best uses our imagination than when we engage in some art. It’s quite a necessity as well in the way it encourages us to think about everything around us and what we are feeling from within. So much so that even cave dwellers of the prehistoric times made hieroglyphics to convey thought on walls as their canvas and to effectively communicate without words.
Our minds are also able to somehow predict outcomes based on what we know and that dictates what we are about to do next. Art serves as the documentation and guide that influences our decisions and point of view about the things and issues that surround us.
These days, art can do you so much good in dealing with the torrent of sad, scary, and unfortunate events that 2020 has brought people from all over the world. It makes us hopeful in a way that it also helps clinically depressed individuals deal with their everyday lives. By simply trying to pick out colors, we can see a clear picture in our minds on which direction we want to steer ourselves toward, no matter what challenges may lie ahead.
It signals our reward center
Most of us will feel good when we engage in some form of art because the activity helps us turn on the reward center of our brain. Science also tells us that visual expression influences our medial prefrontal cortex which increases our blood flow and releases happy hormones.
This is the reward that we get from creating art and it is very useful in how physicians treat people who are dealing with certain health conditions such as addiction, eating disorders, and brain health issues like dementia.
Creating art is also found to have a direct effect on how we express empathy, tolerance, and care towards others as brought about by dopamine—a feel-good hormone that can greatly influence our minds. That means that if we try to do some art during our spare time, not only do we practice mindful health and channel our inner peace, but become more caring individuals to others around us as well. If you want to find out more about Marc Primo Warren our services or just say hi, please reach out here.