Gail Gilman, Family Life Consultant, M.Ed., C.F.C.S. and Professor
Emeritus, University of Minnesota
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.
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 a key role throughout our lives. Parents worldwide sing and coo
to their babies. At the other end of the life cycle music may be the last
thing to go in those with severe memory loss from Alzheimer’s disease. Even
if they don’t know their own spouse, they can sing the songs of their youth.
Recent studies have found evidence that singing releases substances that
serve as the brain’s own natural painkillers. Singing also increases the
“bonding hormone” that helps us feel a sense of trust. When we listen to
music, levels of molecules important for fighting infection can rise.
Many of us intuitively use music for relaxation and enjoyment to socialize,
exercise or change our mood after a distressing day. Music therapy is
sometimes used in the clinic as well, requiring a certified therapist to
interact with the patient.
To measure the effects of such therapy, one study showed how levels of an
important brain chemical that relays signals between cells increased after
four weeks of music therapy. It then decreased after the therapy was
halted.
A report from Finnish scientists showed that listening to music helps stroke
patients recover both memory and focused attention. The researchers also
found that music can 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. 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, you can then progress to forming words
to describe them. This externalizes the trauma and moves it out of
isolation, onto the page and into a positive exchange with the therapist.
This process gives you an active involvement in your own healing.
Several 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.
Expressive writing, writing about traumatic, stressful, or emotional events,
has been shown to have a number of health benefits, from improving symptoms
of depression to helping fight infection. Writing about emotional upheavals
in our lives can improve physical and mental health. Although the
scientific research surrounding the value of expressive writing is still in
the early phases, there are some approaches to writing that have been found
to be helpful.
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 six 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 six months, than those who had written about everyday matters.
Arts that involve movement, such as dance, can also bring health benefits.
Researchers already know that physical activity can help you reduce stress,
gain energy, sleep better, and fight depression and anxiety. Researchers
are now studying Tai Chi, a sequence of slow, graceful body movements, to
see how it affects fitness and stress in cancer survivors.
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.
The arts may bring more than intellectual benefits. Recent research
suggests they may help your physical and mental health. Try these for a
start:
* Write for at least 15 minutes a day, for at least 3 consecutive
days, about something that worries or bothers you. If it makes you feel too
upset, simply stop writing or change topics. Experiment to find what works
best for you.
* Listen to music to reduce stress and improve quality of life.
* Try a dance class or Tai Chi, a sequence of slow, graceful body
movements. These kinds of movements can help reduce stress.
* Try doodling or drawing as a way to work out tension.
If you would like more information on “More Than a Feeling – How the Arts
Affect Your Health” contact Gail Gilman, Family Life Consultant, M.Ed.,
C.F.C.S. and Emeritus University of Minnesota at <mailto:waldn001@umn.edu>
waldn001@umn.edu. Be sure to watch for more Family Living Focus(tm)
information in next week’s paper.