Creating art is not only a fun way to spend your free time, especially now in lockdown, but it has also been proven to provide many health benefits for older adults. Today, we will take a look into what those benefits are.
Main benefits of arts and crafts
Researchers have found that implementing creativity in your life helps increase social interactions, improves cognition, and may even reduce anxiety and depression. But how does this work? Creativity helps to build connections in the brain to strengthen cognitive reserve or brain resilience, and may even prevent memory loss.
Besides that, creating art does not only have a beneficial impact on our brain but can also improve fine motor skills, which can be beneficial to release pain and stiffness of the joints, which older adults especially have to live with. In addition, art also has an essential impact on your inner peace and balance. It helps to express emotions, thoughts, and feelings and creates communication without words.
According to a study published in the journal Neurology, researchers found in their clinical trial with 256 people between the ages of 85 and 80, that people who had no former memory loss challenges and took part in regular arts and crafts activities were less likely (by 73%) to develop mild cognitive impairment, while another study pointed out the decline in depression symptoms based on art activities.
As you can see, art has all kinds of health benefits and a positive impact on our brain functions. The good thing is that one doesn’t have to be an artist in order to pursue arts and crafts. All you need is your imagination and material to start - be creative and enjoy the process!
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