Years ago, I worked with an emergency room nurse I’ll call Lisa, who sought my help after a horrific day in the emergency room. “We lost a child today due to child abuse. The little one’s body was so battered and broken that it broke our hearts. We did everything we could to save her. The surgeons, the other nurses, the staff, we all broke down in tears when it was all over,” Lisa said. As we talked through the horrors of that day, I asked her what helped her make it through the day.
“I had to take care of my own daughter. She had a school project due the next day. She had to make a map of the United States. I helped her with some illustrations for her project. Sitting with her, coloring, and drawing in trees and little animals felt so comforting,” Lisa said.
After the traumatic day in the emergency room, Lisa worried about whether she could continue as an ER nurse. I suggested that she consider drawing, coloring, painting, or exploring art as a way to cope with the stress of her essential job. She admitted loving art as a teenager but never pursued it because it didn’t seem practical. I explained that engaging in an artistic hobby or interest provides significant benefits for the brain and body.
Art Helps You Self-Regulate
Trauma therapists often recommend meditative practices to help people learn to calm the body’s nervous system arousal. When we engage in activities such as drawing, music, creative writing, dance, sculpting, and many other art forms, it can induce a meditative-like state of consciousness. Pursuing an art form requires focus in the present moment—an act of mindfulness. When we attend to the present moment with a playful, nonjudgmental attitude, our body can relax and unwind.
Licensed psychotherapist Caroline Stewart finds that doodling helps her manage the anxiety she feels while attending intellectually challenging conferences. “I find it very soothing to draw while listening to pithy lectures. It lowers my anxiety and helps me learn better,” she said. She created an adult coloring book, called Doodle Magic, to share with colleagues at the International Drug Policy Alliance. Her work with this organization promotes clinically informed understanding of substance abuse disorders to reduce stigma and improve treatment outcomes.
When my client Lisa colored and drew with her daughter, she felt relaxed and a bit playful, tapping into the joy she had felt as a young person creating art. It inspired her to pursue an art class. She began sketching during her breaks and found it helped her center herself emotionally, providing a moment of peaceful pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. Studies show that both free-drawing and coloring in books can effectively reduce anxiety (Manzios et al., 2018).
Your Brain on Art
Many of us passively appreciate art when we watch movies, listen to music, or visit museums. Some of us engage in more active artistic creation when we play a musical instrument, sketch or paint, dance, or sculpt. Researchers conducted an extensive review of the literature to identify the neural mechanisms activated during both passive and active artistic pursuits. They found that the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala were activated. These neural pathways play an essential role in emotional regulation and creativity. Their review of the literature found evidence that the arts help us cope better with life’s challenges by enhancing our brain’s functional connectivity (Barnett et al., 2024).
One of the segments I enjoy in my New York Times subscription is the 10-minute art-viewing challenge. Readers are encouraged to view a work of fine art for 10 whole minutes. After viewing the piece, you can read about the artwork, the artist’s inspiration, and background. It produces a calm, contemplative feeling while enriching my appreciation of the work and the artist’s intention.
When we create visual art, it improves our self-awareness, emotional control, and psychological resilience. A more interconnected, self-aware brain is a more flexible, adaptable, healthier brain (Bolwerk et al., 2014).
In a study of jazz musicians, researchers used fMRI to examine which brain networks were activated when musicians responded to positive versus negative visual images. They found that different brain networks were activated depending on the emotions evoked by the prompt. We can feel pleasure and pain when we listen to a beautiful but sad song, and we can feel pleasure when we feel stimulated by arousing, happy music. This study showed that we can express a broad range of emotions when we make art, activating many varied networks in the brain depending on our emotional states and intentions (McPherson et al., 2016).
Music Improves Memory and Mood
My 92-year-old mother-in-law suffered from memory and hearing loss toward the end of her life. As a younger woman, she enjoyed playing piano and singing. We visited her at her assisted living home on the Fourth of July Holiday weekend. As we talked about patriotic tunes, she began to sing “America the Beautiful,” remembering the melody and lyrics perfectly. Her mood perked up, and she felt pride that she could remember every verse.
Studies show that music can help stroke victims or those with left-brain injuries learn to speak again. This is because singing originates in the right hemisphere of the brain (Behaghel et al., 2022).
Giving Yourself Permission to Create Art
Sometimes we need permission to indulge our artistic tastes and impulses. Art can feel like a luxury reserved for those who have the time and resources to indulge. However, research shows that engaging in any artistic medium can improve our mood and brain function, protect our brain as we age, and help us cope better with life’s challenges. Feel free to engage with forms of art that give you joy. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Poetry, quilting, cake and cookie decorating, free-drawing, dance, ceramics, knitting, woodworking, storytelling, sewing, decorating, music, collage, mosaics, sand sculpture, model crafts, woodcarving, graphic design, scrapbooking, photography, songwriting, creative writing, acting, improvisational comedy, set design, lighting design, landscape art, …
It helps to pursue an artistic desire without regard for its outcome. The creative process is the point, not success, money, recognition, or any other desired result. Permit yourself to express yourself in the vast playground of art. It’s good for your mental, physical, and emotional health.
