News 1313 IDEAS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFEART LOWERS STRESS LEVELS
I
n the paper Reduction of Corti-
sol Levels and Participants’ Re-
sponses Following Art Making,
authors Girija Kaimal, Ken-
dra Ray and Juan Muniz measure
the cortisol levels of 39 healthy
adults ranging in ages from 18 to
59 years before and after 45 min-
utes of doing art. Participants were
asked to create any kind of image-
ry using clay, collage, or markers,
individually or in combination,
and after 45 minutes a second sa-
liva sample was taken and trans-
ported on ice to a certified lab at
the university for analysis. The
study found that cortisol levels -
which is a stress hormone released
by the adrenal glands when the
human body comes under stress- was lower after making art for
around 75 per cent of participants,
and it didn’t seem to matter what
kind of art they engaged in, or
whether they’d had any formal art
training. “Our pilot study provides
preliminary evidence for the use of
art making for lowering cortisol,
a proxy measure of stress, among
healthy adults,” noted the authors.
There are numerous proven benefits from doing art - such as
enhanced creativity, fine motor skill development, and hand-eye
coordination. But recent studies reveal that doing art also directly
lowers stress levels in the human body.Anna Petersen was a Danish painter and an early advocate of women’s rights in the arts. Her work, although mostly overlooked
by galleries and museums during her lifetime, has been recently acquired by the Hirschsprung Collection and Statens Museum
for Kunst. Her ambiguous paintings perhaps show the inner struggle that women artists in the late 19th century experienced in a
society that did not value their contribution to the arts.News 13 IDEAS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFEART LOWERS STRESS LEVELS
I
n the paper Reduction of Corti-
sol Levels and Participants’ Re-
sponses Following Art Making,
authors Girija Kaimal, Ken-
dra Ray and Juan Muniz measure
the cortisol levels of 39 healthy
adultsranginginagesfrom 18 to
59 yearsbeforeandafter 45 min-
utes of doing art. Participants were
asked to create any kind of image-
ry using clay, collage, or markers,
individually or in combination,
and after 45 minutes a second sa-
liva sample was taken and trans-
ported on ice to a certified lab at
the university for analysis. The
study found that cortisol levels -
which is a stress hormone released
by the adrenal glands when the
human body comes under stress- was lower after making art for
around 75 per cent of participants,
and it didn’t seem to matter what
kind of art they engaged in, or
whether they’d had any formal art
training. “Our pilot study provides
preliminary evidence for the use of
art making for lowering cortisol,
a proxy measure of stress, among
healthy adults,” noted the authors.
There are numerous proven benefits from doing art - such as
enhanced creativity, fine motor skill development, and hand-eye
coordination. But recent studies reveal that doing art also directly
lowers stress levels in the human body.Anna Petersen was a Danish painter and an early advocate of women’s rights in the arts. Her work, although mostly overlooked
by galleries and museums during her lifetime, has been recently acquired by the Hirschsprung Collection and Statens Museum
for Kunst. Her ambiguous paintings perhaps show the inner struggle that women artists in the late 19th century experienced in a
society that did not value their contribution to the arts.