What Art Does For Your Brain

25:26and this is one of the really core components of our well-being so it's a very important thing to make sure that we're cultivating but it can also then help us to build our belief in ourselves our feelings of our own self-efficacy or agency and these are really important life skills that actually affect all of our other health behaviors too if people start to feel a sense that they're good at something creative they've built up that skill then that can help them to feel more confident that they could try a different skill in their lives. So many studies have shown that something as simple as joining a community arts group, for example, can lead to quite major life decisions like taking up another health behaviour or changing job or deciding to go out and find new friends, taking on challenges people hadn't thought they could do before.

26:19you tell the story of a woman named shay um can you tell me her story daisy shay is an attorney who currently now lives in houston and she is someone who described to me that she had a really successful career as an attorney but just wasn't feeling really fulfilled from that work she describes her life as being kind of gray rather than technicolor and she was really concerned about this particularly as her mother became very unwell with developed cancer and her mother was saying to her I really want you to find that sense of fulfillment in your life but Shay remembered being really happy through singing experiences when she was younger so she took this big leap and she signed up to a week-long music course at Berkeley College a kind of unconventional vacation and she described to me how this was a complete turning point in her life that that course made her feel so happy built that sense of mastery really changed her whole outlook on herself and what she could do as well as the rest of her life so after that she decided that she was going to shift her attorney work and still carry on but actually make much more space for music in her life and she started doing more singer songwriting work and even doing tours and now like years later she says that she's completely transformed that sense of well-being in her life.

27:35She's managed to use music to sort of compensate and balance out the things that she wasn't getting through her work. And I feel like Shay's story is such a universal one. There are so many people who feel like their jobs are not giving them that full sense of fulfilment, but actually don't realise that something as simple as developing an artistic hobby on the side could completely change that sense of balance in their lives and as a result, their whole experience of their well-being.

28:11So given all these trends of research, I'm wondering if there's evidence that the arts can help to ward off depression, Daisy? This is a really important question and one that started fascinating me about 10 years ago, because when you add together all of the evidence we've been talking about for the benefits for the brain, for our well-being, it starts to make you think, well, might the arts actually support our overall psychological resilience? So perhaps we're more protected against the risk of developing conditions like depression. So I work as an epidemiologist. So my field of work involves using very large data sets, cohort studies that track tens of thousands of people over years and decades of their lives.

28:51And actually, a lot of these cohort studies, which I analyze in the US and in the UK, have looked at people's arts engagements and they've included lots of questions about their arts behaviours. So over the last 10 years, my team and I have been publishing dozens of papers actually looking at how arts engagement relates to the risk of developing depression over the following decades. And we found that people who engage regularly in the arts and have an artistic hobby actually have about half the risk of developing depression over the next 10 years. So you could say, well, are these people just healthier or wealthier or have other patterns of behaviors in their lives?

29:28But as epidemiologists, we use statistical methods to basically try and account for all the other factors that could explain this relationship. So demographics, behaviors, genetics, other aspects of people's lives or even their past histories. And we've actually seen that this relationship is independent of these factors. In other words, arts engagement seems to act as this risk-reducing factor against the risk of developing future mental illness. Is it clear which way the arrow of causation runs, though? You could imagine that someone who is not feeling depressed, somebody who's feeling generally happy with their lives, might be willing to take up a paintbrush or try their hand at a singing choir.

30:09And somebody who is depressed might stay away from those activities. Do we know that it's the arts that is reducing the risk of depression or people with lower depression who might be more engaged with the arts? That is such an important question. And it's one that we've really been trying to disentangle. When we've run our studies, you're right that we have seen some what we call bidirectional effects. It kind of goes both ways. But actually, we've been saying, well, which way is strongest? And actually, we tend to see that actually arts engagement has more of an influence on future mental health than the other way around.

30:38and actually there are lots of ways that we can also say well if you currently don't have depression for example then is your arts engagement going to be related to the future risk of depression so therefore we know that it's not simply your current depressive symptoms and basically through using lots of different statistical methods we've actually been able to demonstrate that it is the arts engagement that is predicting future risk of depression even when we've taken account of those bidirectional effects. I understand that some of this research has also looked at the idea that the arts might help us to hold off cognitive decline.

31:16Explain this idea to me and tell me about the work you've done here. So when we engage in the arts, we're really giving our brains quite an effective whole brain workout. We're involving so many different regions of the brain that might be involved in the visual processing of sheet music, for example, or the motor response that's required or the memory or the emotions that are being activated. And what we've seen through a lot of studies now is that when people are regularly engaged in the arts, it actually supports their cognition. They develop increased cognitive functioning. And we can see this evident in neuroimaging studies that have shown increases in the size and connectivity between different brain regions when people engage regularly in the arts.

31:59But we can also see this over time as people get older those who've got more regular patterns of arts engagement actually have better preservation of their cognition and in fact they even tend to have younger brain ages we can estimate someone's brain age based on how their brain is connecting and the patterns of connectivity across brain regions and people who are amateurs or professionals their brains actually are younger as they get older compared to their chronological age so that's on average about five to seven years younger as they head into older adulthoods, their brains are. And actually, we've seen that this is related as well to a delayed onset of the symptoms of dementia.

32:39Because with dementia, even if your brain is starting to accumulate some of the plaques that are typical of conditions like Alzheimer's disease, people who've got higher levels of what we call cognitive reserve, they're actually able to compensate for longer. So their brains are able to adapt and deal with it so that they don't show the outside symptoms of dementia until later on. And what we seem to be finding through lots of different studies now is that arts engagement is helping to build that cognitive reserve so that people, even if they start to develop dementia, they can manage cognitively far better for longer.

33:15And in some ways, there's an analogy here with physical health. So, you know, if you're very healthy, if you're strong and you go through a period of decline, you have longer to go before you get incapacitated because you have more muscle to start with, more cardiovascular health to start with. And you're making the same case really for what happens in our minds. The more we practice certain things, the more we develop a craft, a skill, a mental ability, a cognitive ability, this gives us reserves that help us stave off decline for longer periods of time. That's essentially right as a metaphor.

33:47But there used to be a kind of craze about, well, could we do this through brain training apps, like games you would do on your phone that would build that cognitive function? But actually, when the big studies of this came out, the results weren't that impressive, because there was a kind of realisation that those games are only practising one cognitive function at a time. But this is where art really has the upper hand, because when you're engaging in the arts, you've got so many different cognitive processes that are being activated by that engagement, that whole brain workout that I spoke about.

34:17And that's why I think the arts are such an exciting opportunity for supporting our brains as we get older.

34:27Across many years of research, scientists like Daisy have been building evidence to prove that engagement with the arts can make a real difference. When we come back, how to bring the arts into our daily lives and reap all the riches they have to offer. Also, in our companion story to this episode, available exclusively to subscribers to Hidden Brain Plus, we dive deeper into the role of the arts in medicine. If you're a subscriber, that episode is available right now. It's titled The Healing Arts. If you're not yet a subscriber, please go to support.hiddenbrain.org. If you're using an Apple device, please go to apple.co slash hiddenbrain.

35:07You can get a free seven-day trial in both places, and you'll instantly have access to all our subscriber-only content. Again, that's support.hiddenbrain.org or apple.co slash hiddenbrain. You're listening to Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta.

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36:27This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta. Has this conversation stirred thoughts of encounters you've had with the arts? If you have a personal story you'd be willing to share with the Hidden Brain audience, or a question or comment about this episode, please find a very quiet room and record a voice memo on your phone. Two or three minutes is plenty. Then email the file to us at feedback at hiddenbrain.org. Use the subject line arts. Again, that's feedback at hiddenbrain.org.

37:02daisy fancourt is a psychobiologist at university college london she is the author of art cure the science of how the arts save lives daisy you say that a first step in accessing the benefits of the arts is to figure out how to add some aspect of the arts to our lives every single day how do you advise people to do this i think it's great to think about this in the same way we think about our diet or our exercise we're used to target 10 000 steps a day or eat five fruit and vegetables a day or whatever and i think having a simple rule like that is a really great way of starting now for some people that might be 10 or 15 or 20 minutes that you're able to put aside and there can be really easy ways of doing this even sort of simple swaps that you can have in your life so for example one that i do is i have what i call a creative commute so i can't i live too far away to cycle or run to work.

37:58But when I'm on my train each day, I'm not allowed to scroll my phone. Instead, I use that time to sit and listen to music or to read my book. And that's a really easy way of making sure I get those minutes every single day.

38:16You see that it's important to focus on consistency. So rather than trying to get four hours in one day and nothing for the rest of the week, it's more helpful to get 20 minutes every day? If we're engaging regularly, it's much more likely to become a habit that sticks. So you're much more likely to find that you don't just cancel that one day and then realise it's been a couple of weeks since you did everything. But it also means you can be getting those benefits day to day. And lots of the immediate benefits people get from arts engagement are for things like stress and for mood. And those are things that we can all benefit from having the little pick-me-ups embedded in our day-to-day lives.

38:51And we also see that a lot of the evidence about the long-term benefits is really focused on sustainability of engagement. So having something that you do as a habit for months or years of your lives, if you really want to be supporting things like brain health, for example, as you get older, or the reduced risk of developing various mental and physical health conditions. So I think it's really great to find that daily dose that's achievable for you. You know, some people struggle to start an exercise routine and they find it helpful to join an exercise class or maybe to get a trainer. And in some ways, perhaps the same is true when it comes to the arts.

39:29I think it is true because some people are concerned that they're not artistic or creative enough or they're not good at something. They haven't got the right skills. So it can be really effective to start a hobby, an arts hobby, by joining a local group or by having a couple of lessons, a bit of instruction to get you going, or even using things like YouTube. So you've got some videos or an online community for some support to get you going. And actually for things that involve a certain level of skill to be able to really get the most of them. So things like craft activities or learning musical instruments.

40:01Literature now suggests that if you can do something for 50 hours, then actually you tend to have the level of skill that mean you can really fly with it on your own and really start to enjoy it and get into the flow of it. So that can be good for people to recognize that it might take a few weeks to feel like they're really comfortable with an artistic hobby. So to give themselves the time to have those experiences and build that level of comfort.

40:31Intuitively, it seems to me that if you can do an arts activity with someone whom you like, a friend, it's a little bit like starting a workout routine with a friend, you're more likely to stick to it. Definitely. And actually, there are some great ways you can do this in your lives. So in the UK, actually, we found there are lots of venues like pubs or bars that are now doing crafts evenings. So you can go alone, you can socialize with friends, but you can have that artistic focus. Or you can meet up with friends at a gallery or an exhibition as a way of having something to look at as well as that time to talk to each other.

41:05Something that I've heard of some couples doing now is instead of going for a date night dinner, actually going to watch a show or to go to a gig so that they're actually embedding those creative experiences with the social experiences that they've already made the time for in their diaries. I want to go back to something that you mentioned a second earlier, because I think this is a real barrier for many people. You know, people say, I'm not musical or I can't draw to save my life. Talk about this barrier, the sense of shame that we have about our own artistic abilities, especially compared to what we might see on social media of other people posting their accomplishments, how this is in some ways a barrier to us jumping into the water and trying something ourselves?

41:47I think it's really a sign about how we as societies have sort of taken arts engagement and actually commodified it. We've sort of made it this object, this thing that you're supposed to be good at, or you have to feel like you've had particular training to be allowed to do it. But just look back at young children, because when you look at children, all children saying they dance, they make up stories, they act things out, they constantly draw or craft. They're not worried about whether they're good at it. They're really enjoying that experience. And all kids have got that innate creativity. So I think it's really helpful to draw on children as inspiration and remind ourselves that a lot of the health benefits of the arts actually come from doing it, not necessarily being good at it.

42:42You say that just as we might plan our meals out, you know, that on some days we're going to eat in and some days we're going to go to a restaurant, we can do the same thing when it comes to the arts, that we can actually plan our artistic calendars? I think that's a really great way of doing things. So that might be a case of seeing if there are some exhibitions or a festival coming up, or there are films that you really want to see, or that there are certain gigs or things you need to book tickets for. It's really great to put those things in the diary because as well as having the day-to-day, daily dose of arts engagement that you might try and embed in your life, having things like that can bring really exciting novelty.

43:21They can give you different experiences that might give you feelings of awe or excitement. And they're also a really good way of making sure that we're just building those additional routines to increase that overall pattern of engagement that we get with the arts. You said something important a second ago, which is that it's one thing to consume arts, going to a festival or going to an exhibition, watching a movie. It's another thing to be producing art. Talk about the difference. Is there any evidence or research about the benefits of doing one or the other? Well, if we think back about what ingredients we're getting when we're engaging with the arts, if we're watching something, we're being exposed to lots of different stimuli.

44:00But if we're doing it ourselves, we're getting further types of stimuli, often tactile stimuli, for example, which people can find very therapeutic. But also if we're building our skills, that relates to those experiences of mastery that we've spoken about or a feeling of self-esteem or accomplishments that we can get through the arts as well. So a bit like the same way we try and have a variety of plants and vegetables in our diets, it can be really important to have a variety of arts experiences because they're all exposing us to different kinds of ingredients that have health benefits. And for some health conditions, it doesn't really matter whether you are receptively watching something versus actively participating.

44:39So for a lot of mental health outcomes, we actually see that both kinds of engagements have benefits just in slightly different ways for us. But there are other experiences, other outcomes. So things like outcomes relating to mobility or to pain, for example, we're actually having that active ingredient of participating. It's giving us additional sensory engagement and additional mechanisms that can actually support those health outcomes. You recommend regularly changing up the kinds of arts that we engage in. I'm wondering why this is, Daisy. If you love something, why not just stick to it? if you love something then absolutely you can stick to it to a certain degree but sometimes what people find is what we call the hedonic treadmill if they're doing something that they enjoy they can sometimes start to adapt to it and it doesn't necessarily continue to bring exactly the same kinds of well-being benefits so people actually will often organically shift things up so for example if you're someone that's really into crafts and you've been really enjoying doing a certain kind of knitting for example you actually might find that you're setting yourself different kinds of challenges or different patterns that you're trying to learn but sometimes people can still find that it's good to mix things up and bring in a completely different type of arts hobby because that can be a great way of exposing their brains to novelty to sparking their imagination and to perhaps making sure that whatever behavioral routines they've got in their lives keep that freshness and excitement to them

46:26I think many of us do engage with music or the arts, but we often do it as we're doing something else. So, you know, you're racing home from work, maybe you're on a train, you're playing some music, but you're also reading your email. It's one thing to listen to a beautiful piece of music with one ear and quite another to immerse ourselves completely in it. You talked a second ago about how when you are commuting home from work, you actually are devoting your full attention to the art that you're consuming. Talk about this, the importance of actually sitting and savoring and focusing on the art, not just doing it with one ear or one eye.

47:04yes when we listen to music for example quite in the background it can still be having some benefits for us like reducing stress response for example but it's if it's not getting our full attention we're not going to be getting the maximum impact from it so i think it's really important that we are consciously aware about how much we are passively engaging in the arts versus giving it that full attention because when we give it full attention all of our emotional responses are heightened our stress responses are heightened as well and also we've got a chance to really get into the flow of what we're doing and if we can really get into that flow state that feeling of complete absorption where we're forgetting everything else in our lives it has profound benefits for our mental health and it also has profound benefits for our brain health it actually leads to synchronization between particular brain regions and enhances our overall attention as well So I think it's really great that we can ensure that we are giving art time and space rather than just always relegating it to background passive consumption.

48:05I'm thinking, Daisy, about how sometimes when I'm eating some dessert, if I actually take my time with it and linger over it and savor it, the dessert tastes two or three times as good as a dessert that I'm rushing through. And the same thing in some ways is true for art. Absolutely. We get a much deeper appreciation and enjoyment from it. Essentially, all of our senses are heightened when we're giving ourselves that full attention on what we're doing. And we see things like increased dopamine release or increased feelings of happiness if we're really focusing on the art. A reminder, do you have a personal story about the effects of the arts in your life or the life of a family member?

48:43If you have a story you are willing to share with a Hidden Brain audience or a question or comment about this episode, please find a very quiet room and record a voice memo on your phone. Two or three minutes is plenty. Email it to us at feedback at hiddenbrain.org using the subject line arts. Again, that's feedback at hiddenbrain.org. Daisy, I understand that you have come up with a number of ways to incorporate the arts into your own daily life. Paint a picture for me of what you've done. One of the things that I've done in my life is I've tried to work out across the day when am I most likely to be able to benefit from the arts.

49:19So I've often found that if I swap my alarm on my phone to a really calming piece of music in the mornings, that really subtle shift can completely change my mood when I first get up and how I'm starting my day. I've also found some of the times like in the afternoon when sometimes I have a bit of an energy dip where I know that actually putting on some music can be a really great way of freshening up my mood. Or it can be a great chance to actually take a little bit of a break from work and just help me to shake up that slump in the afternoon. I'm somebody that really loves to be sociable in the evenings.

49:52So I've really enjoyed being able to find ways of combining my socializing with also seeing friends as well. That's felt like a really nice way of not having to find more time, but being able to maximize the time that I do have to have those more meaningful experiences with people. And I've also deliberately across my week booked a couple of sessions in where I do things like a book club or I'll go to go and try a new class or a taster session of something. because I find that that's another great way of keeping my engagement really novel and fresh. I'm wondering when you socialize with friends, you sometimes say that you skip having drinks or dinners and try and swap in an arts activity instead.

50:35Can you paint me a picture of a time when you did this with some friends, Daisy? I found recently that I've been meeting some friends at galleries or exhibitions that have been on. And it's a really great way to be catching up. but whilst you're looking around and able to think about and talk about the paintings as well I also think it can be a really nice way if you've got things you want to talk about with friends that are a little bit harder or more emotionally intense to actually do something that's not just sitting opposite people at a dining table for example but actually somewhere where you've got a little bit of space and walking around galleries or listening to music that might be being performed in kind of public events it can be a great way of actually giving yourself a little bit more time and focus to actually have some more difficult conversations too.

51:30I was talking to a friend recently who told me that, you know, before she had kids, you know, she and her husband would go ballroom dancing multiple times a week. And of course, I'm Reflecting now as I'm hearing you speak that in some ways that has so many different components of what you just talked about. You're listening to the music, you're dancing, you're social, you're being with someone. All of these things in some ways have profound benefits for us. They do, and they're often much more memorable as events to do together than simply going out for a meal. And actually, we do know from a social bonding perspective that if we do arts with people, So if we sing or we dance with people, we actually become emotionally closer with them faster than if we just talk or if we exercise with them.

52:16So it's a really lovely thing to do as well if people are forming new relationships or new friendships, because it can be an amazing icebreaker and a way of helping to facilitate the development of deeper connection.

52:40Daisy Fancourt is a psychobiologist at University College London. She is the author of Art Cure, The Science of How the Arts Save Lives. Daisy, thank you so much for joining me today on Hidden Brain. It's a pleasure.

52:58Hidden Brain is produced by Hidden Brain Media. Our audio production team includes Annie Murphy-Paul, Kristen Wong, Laura Correll, Ryan Katz, Andrew Chadwick, and Nick Woodbury. Tara Boyle is our executive producer. I'm Hidden Brain's executive editor. If you like this episode, please think of a friend who might like it as well and share this episode with them. If they are new to Hidden Brain, they may also discover other episodes that are of interest.

53:31I'm Shankar Vedantam. See you soon.

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