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Science Says Making Art Relieves Stress, Even If You Suck at It

Now you're really running out of excuses.
Image: Pixabay

Good news for shitty doodlers: a new study says that making art relieves stress, even if you suck at it.

We've known for a while that making art can reduce hormones related to stress, but a team at Drexel's College of Nursing and Health Professions wanted to find out if it helps professional artists more than laypeople. Researchers led by artist and assistant professor Girija Kaimal gave 39 healthy adults, just under half of whom reported some experience in making art, markers, paper, clay, collage materials, and 45 minutes, with no instructions. They measured their subjects' saliva for cortisol, a.k.a., "the stress hormone," before and after their free time, and found reduced levels in 75% of cases. There was no correlation between experience and stress, which Kaimal admits, "wasn't surprising."

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"That's the core idea in art therapy: Everyone is creative and can be expressive in the visual arts when working in a supportive setting," she continues. "That said, I did expect that perhaps the effects would be stronger for those with prior experience." After the experiment, one subject reported, "It was very relaxing. After about five minutes, I felt less anxious. I was able to obsess less about things that I had not done or need [ed] to get done. Doing art allowed me to put things into perspective."

The study, entitled "Reduction of Cortisol Levels and Participants' Responses Following Art Making" was published in Art Therapy, a journal devoted to studying the healing properties of art. We're not here to judge whether art is good or bad, but after taking a look at examples of the work produced during Kaimal's experiment, there's definitely a range in practice and effort. It's comforting to know that all each one of these works potentially mellowed out their creators. The big takeaway is that, whether you're a prison inmate or a ballet dancer, stop stressing about making "bad art" and instead, just make something.

Read the full study here.

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