The Science of Art & Wellness

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that your adrenal glands produce and release. Commonly known as the “stress hormone”, cortisol affects several aspects of your body and mainly helps regulate your body's response to stress. (Cleveland Clinic)

The long-term activation of the stress response system and the overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones that follow can disrupt almost all your body's processes. 

This puts you at increased risk of many health problems, including:

• Anxiety / depression
• Headaches
• Muscle tension and pain
• Heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke
• Sleep problems
• Weight gain
• Memory and concentration impairment

(Mayo Clinic)

Block out 15-20 minutes in the late afternoon or early evening when you are transitioning out of work mode, and use the time to doodle or practice a mindful drawing technique.

• Decreased stress and anxiety
• Decreased heart rate and blood pressure 
• Clearer, calmer mind 
• Sounder sleep 
• Enhanced mood 
• More mindful lifestyle choices

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter made in your brain. It plays a role as a “reward center” and in many body functions, including memory, movement, motivation, mood, attention and more. (Cleveland Clinic)

Dopamine is released when we do something pleasurable, and it makes us feel more joyful, grounded, focused, and motivated. 

The act of repetitive creative motions like drawing, painting, collaging or embroidering floods your brain with dopamine. When this powerful, feel-good neurotransmitter is activated, you are empowering yourself to approach life more mindfully and positively.

Start your day with a hit of dopamine. Instead of diving right into the hamster wheel of work and life, take 10-20 minutes (or more if you have it) in the morning to draw or watercolor something from nature.

This could be a flower, piece of fruit, leaf, or indoor plant. Don’t worry about how it looks - neuroscientists have proven that you don’t have to be technically “good” at art making to receive the health benefits from a regular creative practice.

• More focused and motivated 
• More contented and joyful 
• Better equipped to make decisions and achieve goals

Serotonin is a chemical that carries messages between nerve cells in the brain and throughout your body. It plays a key role in such body functions as mood, sleep, digestion, nausea, wound healing, bone health, and more. (Cleveland Clinic)

Serotonin's effects on the brain could be considered its starring role in the body. As it helps regulate mood, serotonin is often called the body's natural "feel-good" chemical because it makes us feel happy and calm at normal levels. Serotonin's influence on mood makes it one of several brain chemicals that are integral to your overall sense of wellbeing. (Very well mind)

Switch out your lunchtime - and bedtime - social media scroll with artmaking. Yes, you can make art from bed! 

Turn on some relaxing music and let the music inspire your drawing. Or make a collage card for a friend or loved one and write them a quick note to express gratitude for their friendship. This small gesture of practicing mindfulness and expressing gratitude are two of the most important factors in promoting positive wellbeing. 

• Deeper self-discovery
• Strengthened self-empowerment
• Increased productivity

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s capacity to continue growing and evolving in response to life experiences. Plasticity is the capacity to be shaped, molded, or altered; neuroplasticity, then, is the ability for the brain to adapt or change over time, by creating new neurons and building new networks. (Psychology Today)

Every time you engage in a new or complex activity, your brain creates new connections between your brain cells, increasing neuroplasticity. 

By developing these new neural pathways and allowing old ones to wither, our brains continue to rewire themselves to adapt to a changing environment at any age! 

Creating art activates communication between various parts of your brain, increasing your brain plasticity. On the weekends when you may have more time to dedicate to your creative practice, break out your watercolor materials and paint a small still life. Better yet, take your art kit outside to a park, the beach, or your backyard, and create a landscape study. Plan a picnic with a friend or two, and create together while enjoying time in nature!  

• Promote overall brain health
• Improve fluid intelligence and IG 
• Increase capacity for memory and attention
• Combats brain atrophy and dementia

Trauma is an emotional response that lasts long after an event occurs that causes significant mental and physical stress. Just like a physical scar from a deep cut takes time to heal, recovery from trauma is possible with time and treatment. Art making engages the non-verbal parts of our brain and can help people express emotions that are too difficult to verbalize. (Cleveland Clinic)

There are varying degrees of trauma ranging from PTSD and chronic illness, to feeling overwhelmed and pressured by the destabilizing, chaotic world we live in. Further, we all experience loss and grief at some point in our lives, and navigating the emotional and mental anguish can feel too difficult to manage.

Recovery and therapy can take many forms, and everyone can benefit from the therapeutic qualities of art making.

When you are experiencing times of grief and trauma, exposure to certain colors can help promote joyfulness (shades of yellow), healing (shades of green) and a sense of tranquility and peace (shades of blues). 

Take some time to create in nature, or a place that brings your comfort and a sense of safety. Allow the difficult thoughts and emotions to ebb and flow, expressing the range of feelings through colors, lines, shapes.

• Facilitate healing from grief 
• Greater capacity for processing and expressing difficult thoughts and emotions  
• Enables a state of relaxation and safety