Creativity is essential in life. Reports have shown that creativity can actually improve your overall health. It may sound too good to be true but just engaging in creative activities like coloring can improve your mental and physical health. Being creative is actually the basis for human life so everyone is creative in one way or another. You may have met people who told you that they are not creative and that they are not artistically talented. However, it is not true that they are not creative. They just need some practice to train the brain and the mind to get creative. It is very possible for all of us to be creative! Here are some benefits for your physical and mental health when you become creative!
Happiness Levels Increase
Have you ever been so focused on something that it caused you to lose a sense of time? When you are in the zone, you actually experience lower levels of anxiety which lifts your mood and slows your heart rate, making you feel relaxed and at peace. When you are in a repetitive creative motion where you are knitting, drawing or coloring for a period of time, it causes these feelings to occur. When you are feeling relaxed your brain will be flooded with dopamine which is a chemical in the brain that makes you much happier and motivated. You may or may not be aware of your happiness levels increasing but that shot of dopamine you get from doing creative activities will actually lift your mood and make you feel so much happier and lighter.
Reduce Risk of Developing Dementia
Engaging in artistic and creative activities can actually reduce your risk of developing dementia. It is a very effective treatment for patients that have dementia. Studies have shown that being creative does not lower levels of isolation and even depression, but even help patients with dementia with their mood and personality. Dementia patients will often experience a change in personalities, they could be more reserved and less engaged in conversations. However, when they start doing creative works, it actually sharpens their senses and stabilizes their mood.
Improve their Mental Health
Creative activities such as doing arts and craft or coloring can help the mind focus just like mediation. The effects of creative activities are liken to the effects of mediation as both activities calm the mind and the body. Doing creative activities regularly releases natural antidepressants which are dopamine that reduces anxiety, stress and depression. Studies have also shown that writing can help people manage their negative emotions in a positive and productive way. This is why professionals may encourage journaling and writing out their thoughts at the end of the day. Sometimes these thoughts written down are an outlet to express how they feel inside. Some people use their drawings and paintings to express the kind of trauma they have experienced when words fail to describe it. This helps with their mental health.
