How art shapes the quality of your life

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art museum

Art has the unmatched ability to improve one’s quality of life, and the growing body of studies proves this as awareness of well-being rises. It exists in numerous styles and forms and finding the one that appeals can be an exciting journey given the accessibility of social media, the internet, or offline establishments for art enthusiasts. Going beyond a purely pleasurable experience, you may feel more creative, optimistic, engaged, and even emotionally innovative when scrutinizing a piece of art that stirs you. On another note, if you delve into art therapy topics, you’ll see that you don’t even have to aim at improving anything in your emotional health, for simply familiarizing yourself with your taste in art and consuming it on a regular basis can trigger changes in you that will serve you incredibly well down the line.

Although not a cure, from easing PTSD and depression to slowing cognitive decline and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, art can be the most exciting and powerful tool for contributing to overall health and wellbeing. If you want to learn more about how art can improve your life’s quality, read on confidently, then decide how you’ll make the most of this ally for your well-being’s betterment.

Feeling how well-being improves

Visiting galleries, museums, and other art-based establishments facilitates introspection, mindfulness, and self-reflection, which are essential for growing self-confidence and self-esteem. You may feel your mind and focus transported to unknown places, and your imagination begins to expand in ways that some tedious daily tasks can’t allow.

Studies show that art is a shortcut to reducing depression, anxiety, stress, and even PTSD. As a quick refresher, art therapy was used for a group of war veterans and managed to slash PTSD levels by half, encouraging more self-precautious people to explore the vast domain.

The qualities art promotes are critical for developing a growth- and goal-oriented mindset and resilience for overcoming obstacles.

Engage with art from the comfort of your home

Maybe you’re familiar with art-oriented talks that naturally lead to the concept of gallery and museum visiting, among others, feeling like you’re missing out on something greater by only focusing on these outlets. If so, it might be your intuitive knowledge talking. You can make the most of art basically anywhere you may be. Studies also demonstrate that online engagement with arts can increase users’ well-being and mood, especially when the content stuns, moves, and inspires them. Visual engagement with good photography, sculptures, paintings, and so forth can directly connect the viewer with their body, mind, and senses, awakening them to unknown ideas and perspectives. From here on, encouraging one to express oneself openly and improve one’s social skills is a small step and is usually carried by more openness to newness and knowledge, extraversion, neuroticism, and consciousness. Those who have developed these traits considerably can experience higher immersion levels and more easily determine the type of art that moves them – a skill you can create by engaging with art.

Thanks to the wealth of art available both online and offline, reaping these benefits is now easier and pleasanter than ever, regardless of your tastes. The sea of resources at your fingertips can make the quest enthralling, and as you immerse yourself in beautiful content, you might notice how the magic of art sparks connections across different brain parts.

Art and serotonin

Serotonin is one of the four happiness hormones, naturally found in your brain, but its levels can fluctuate for numerous reasons. Imagine feeling down and having art as the ace up your sleeve to cheer you up – would you use it and crack some smiles? Whether it’s music, videos, movies, photography, painting, and so on, your type of art can offer the solace needed when you could use a little more optimism. For this reason, many art hobbyists turn to their works whenever they feel pressured, stressed, unsettled, and so on.

Art impacts the nervous system, emotions, and wave patterns, actually spiking serotonin levels. These perks don’t result only from creating content but also from experiencing and connecting with it. The simple act of admiring an artwork can foster the development of new ways of thinking and, concomitantly, new brain pathways (or neural pathways). As a quick refresher, you can try to recall how a specific song or video helps you clear your head and get to the bottom of your emotions. Or, paradoxically and beautifully, stir new emotions in you, which are often reflected in goosebumps, chills, and shivers – aka aesthetic chills. This is a psychophysiological reaction to rewarding stimuli, including all types of art.

Art is a dopamine booster, too

Have you ever been overwhelmed by a flow of barely describable emotions while gazing at a piece of art? Has a museum ever left you feeling like in a roller-coaster or transformative feelings that might have changed some perceptions about the surrounding world for you forever? If so, you have likely experienced the mind-opening and life-changing effect of an artwork that hit your spot. The artist behind the gem opened their world to welcome you and share their knowledge with you. This is a reason why people tend to lose track of time when admiring paintings in museums, failing to realize whether they spent more time looking at one instead of the other.

Art helps make sense of the world around, so when one creates content of choice, dopamine levels due to the pleasure exuded rise. Neuroscientist Semir Zeki said that looking at beautiful art can trigger emotions similar to those felt when falling in love, boosting one’s energy, enthusiasm, and consequently, problem-solving abilities. Dopamine is another happiness hormone – a neurotransmitter that regulates the pleasure and reward parts in the brain. Understanding how art boosts happiness when chosen effectively thus becomes easier than ever.

Conclusion

Current findings stress how art is no longer seen as just a form of expression but as an unmatched tool for improving psychological and physical health. Once you dive into the subject, you’ll quickly see how arts can contribute to a more balanced and content life. So, how will you integrate art into yours? What type of art do you feel like connecting the most with?

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