Art may save your life! Five creative ways to make 2026 happier, healthier and more hopeful | Health and wellness

FOr for some reason, we have collectively agreed that the new year is a time to reinvent ourselves. The problem, for many people, is that we try all the usual health kicks – running, yoga, meditation, the latest diet – even if we don’t really enjoy them, in an attempt to improve our minds and bodies. But have any of us thought about creativity that much? Let me suggest that this year be a time to embrace the arts.

Since our Paleolithic ancestors began painting caves, carving statues, dancing and singing, engaging in the arts has become intertwined with health and healing. Look at the early writings of all the major medical traditions around the world and you will find the arts. Much more recently – and which has accelerated rapidly over the past two decades – is the burgeoning scientific evidence base that precisely identifies and measures the health benefits of the arts.

Randomized trials on the mental health benefits of the arts are now in triple digits, showing that regular singing, dancing, reading, crafts and cultural activities reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress in people of all ages. Some studies suggest that combining creative arts therapies such as music therapy, antidepressants, and counseling can nearly double improvements in depressive symptoms compared to standard treatments alone. But the arts can also be helpful on a preventive level. People who regularly go to theatre, live music concerts, museums, galleries and cinema have almost half the risk of developing depression. This is not just because these people tend to be wealthier, healthier, or engage in other health-promoting behaviors. It is actually independent of socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle and even genetics.

Instead, neuroscience research and psychological experiments have revealed that when we engage in the arts, we give our brains what they need. He wants To be happy – we activate the same pleasure and reward networks in the brain that are activated by food, sex and drugs, and we experience the benefits of hormones like dopamine that improve our mood. We also give our brains what we are needs – Dancing, singing, crafts, and writing help meet basic psychological needs that are the building blocks of our mental health, such as independence, control, and a sense of mastery. Most importantly, the arts give us an effective way to regulate our emotions – calming or energizing us as the situation requires, helping us to relieve and cope with life’s stresses more effectively.

For our brains, the arts are a very effective exercise, engaging diverse areas involved in sensory processing, memory, movement, pattern recognition, and emotions (among others). Over time, regular participation in the arts can enhance connectivity between brain regions and even increase the volume of gray matter. In fact, amateur musicians and artists have stronger connections between the parts of the brain that are vulnerable to aging, and which can be identified in brain images as “younger.”

Participating in arts and crafts, reading, playing musical instruments, and going to cultural events and performances builds what is known as “cognitive reserve”: the brain’s resilience against cognitive decline. So, even if we start to develop signs of dementia, our brains can compensate for longer. In fact, even when we take lifestyle and personal characteristics into account, people who regularly participate in cultural activities perform better on cognitive tests as they age, show slower rates of decline and lower risk of dementia, and are on average older if and when they get this diagnosis than people who do not participate in the arts.

For our bodies, there is no physiological system that the arts do not influence. When we breathe deeply during an activity like singing, we improve the strength of our respiratory muscles, giving our lungs the same level of exercise as brisk walking. When we dance, we can see lower blood pressure and glucose levels, stronger improvements than if we did similar exercises without the creative element of dancing. Participation in the arts improves immune activity, which lowers levels of inflammation that affect our physical and mental health. Studies that have just come out suggest that participation in the arts affects gene expression, with people showing patterns of gene expression (known as “epigenetic clocks”) that are younger than those who do not engage in the arts. Whether we keep our fingers limber by crochet, keep our bodies fit through dancing, or stay active by going to concerts and cultural venues, engaging in the arts reduces our risks of chronic pain, physical disabilities, and frailty – even when other healthy behaviors like exercise are already taken into account – prolonging our “health span.”

I want to be clear – the arts are not a silver bullet. In fact, there are examples of the arts doing more harm than good, from the use of loud music and surreal art as a means of torturing prisoners, To use art as a way to flaunt wealth and power within society. But it is not an exaggeration to say that the arts can save your life. Over the years, I have met a number of people who have told me stories of how drawing, reading, dancing or acting became a lifeline that helped them get through seemingly impossible times.

I bet if a new drug came on the market that offered the same list of benefits as the arts, most people would want to take it. Instead, many of us view engaging in the arts as a luxury rather than a necessity. Although they may be exactly what we need to improve our health and well-being.

So I invite you to be completely honest with yourself. How many minutes did you spend actively engaging in the arts yesterday? (By “actively” I mean you weren’t multitasking at the time, so I’m not counting plugging in headphones and then zoning out.) When a representative sample of US adults answered this question recently, 95% of them answered zero. If you’re currently part of that majority, here are five evidence-based recommendations to help you move forward.

Find the source of your creativity

Use music and books to improve your mood. Replace your morning alarm with a song and make time to listen to it before waking up. Replace death scrolling on your commute with a novel. The dopamine release that stories and songs provide comes not only from the more joyful or exciting parts — like choruses in songs and climaxes in plots — but also from the tension that builds up during the lead-up to those moments, as our brains anticipate what’s to come. When a song or story seems too predictable, it may sound bland (think Nocturne) and there isn’t enough build-up of anticipation. If something is too far outside our comfort zone, our brains don’t know how to judge it, so we miss the joy of tension and resolution. So don’t feel pressured to choose the book or album that feels right to you He should Read or listen to. You can maximize the enjoyment you get from the arts by finding your personal sweet spot between familiarity and complexity.

Choose a new creative hobby

If you can set aside 30 to 60 minutes once a week to engage in the arts, studies show you can expect to see improvements in your well-being in about six weeks. Think about the psychological needs that are not being met in your life. If you feel out of control, choose a hobby that allows you to take initiative without requiring instruction, such as drawing, creative writing, or clay modeling. If you want to feel mastery, try something that allows you to develop a new skill. Crafts like crochet or ukulele picking can be a good option in the winter, either supported by YouTube demos or community lessons. Setting a goal to work toward (a performance or a gift to give your friends) can be a good motivator. Remember, failure is essential to building a sense of accomplishment, so if your pottery crumbles or your scarves fall apart, practicing dealing with such failures can build your sense of resilience.

Go to the gallery

Whether you’re a fan of Renaissance paintings, contemporary sculptures, immersive audio-visual installations or street art, exhibitions are a great way to experience awe. But make sure you actually look! On average, we spend just 28 seconds looking at artwork in galleries (and often a fair portion of that taking photos). We need three or four seconds to form a basic emotional response and 10 seconds to cognitively decide what we think about the work of art. But if we hope the encounter will be more meaningful, we need time to consider, think, respond, look again, etc., and this takes minutes, not seconds. So don’t try to take in too much at once. It is better to engage meaningfully with a few exhibits on an art trip than to try to absorb everything.

Use rhythm to enhance your exercise routine

When we listen to music and dance, our movements, breathing and heartbeats are all in sync with the rhythm. If the music is motivating (upbeat, upbeat, upbeat), we’ll run farther, move faster, or bench press 20% more in the same amount of time. Music can also suppress physiological reaction signals of fatigue and pain and make us more efficient in our movements. Effectively, music is a legal performance-enhancing drug. A tempo of 125 to 140 beats per minute is a good rule of thumb when exercising, although you can push it higher if you’re trying to synchronize movements like your gait while running.

Indulge in some liesI have

As adults, we have a tendency to dismiss play as frivolous and childish. How wrong we are. When we enter fantasy worlds, the temporary suspension of social norms and hierarchies allows us to understand the world from different angles, helping our brains build mental resilience to deal with unexpected changes in our lives. So embrace your imagination, whether that’s hosting a murder mystery night, dressing up in costumes, or finding a carnival or festival to jot down in your diary.

I’ll be honest: Most of the health fads I’ve indulged in over the years haven’t brought me much happiness. But last January I decided instead to practice what I preach. I can honestly say that the mental highlights of the year since then have all revolved around the artistic experiences I’ve had. I wish you similar success in your creative endeavors in 2026.