creations

Art and Health

A research review examining the relationship between engagement with the creative arts and health outcomes, specifically the health effects of music engagement, visual arts therapy, movement-based creative expression, and expressive writing found that, “In all 4 areas of creative artistic expression reviewed here, there are clear indications that artistic engagement has significantly positive effects on health.” “Health” includes mental health, as without mental health there is no health.

As the published study states, “Although there was already strong evidence that art-based interventions are effective in reducing adverse physiological and psychological outcomes, the extent to which these interventions enhanced health status was largely unknown.” The National Institute of Health sponsored the review, which looked at a wide variety of existing research.

What kind of art? Simple, fun, easy art or complex, challenging art., you decide. The results of this study reveal that the action of doing these things is the tie to health, what is produced in terms of art is not. So you don’t have to be Michelangelo, just let yourself get into art, it’s good for the mind, body, and soul.

The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature by Heather L. Stuckey, DEd and Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH

“gENUINE POETRY CAN COMMUNICATE BEFORE IT IS UNDERSTOOD.” -t.s. eLIOT