Making Art Can Reduce Stress, and You Don't Even Have To Be Artistic, Says Study

ARTNET NEWS
By Brian Boucher
A Beluga paints a picture at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in suburban Tokyo. Photo Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images.
Overwork got you down? Anxious about your financial situation? A new study indicates that art-making can help, even if you've got no skills at all, says a new study, reports Science Daily. A paper from the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Philadelphia's Drexel University, published in Art Therapy, the journal of the American Art Therapy Association, suggests that just 45 minutes at the easel may reduce levels of cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress. Some 75 percent of the participants in the study had lower cortisol levels after their brief stint as artists. [link]