It’s common knowledge that exercise, healthy eating, and sleep are key factors in keeping you healthy and thriving, but did you know that practicing creativity could also be a contributing factor to your overall wellbeing? Picking up a paintbrush, singing a song in the shower, or even jotting down your thoughts in a journal can have added health benefits. Health Initiatives (HI) health educator, JaPeera Edmonds said, “being creative gives you opportunities to try out new ideas, new ways of thinking, and problem-solving. Creative activities help us acknowledge and celebrate our own uniqueness and diversity and allows us to thrive.” Don't believe us, check out this list of four different health benefits to practicing creativity. 

Increased Happiness

An average person has close to 60,000 thoughts a day. With all of these thoughts rushing around, it can be hard to focus and remain positive. Creative endeavors such as drawing, or coloring can boost your happiness as it releases dopamine into your brain. Dopamine is a natural anti-depressant and it creates a feeling of happiness and euphoria in the body. It has also been proven that creative acts reduce depression, anxiety and stress levels as it gives your brain a creative outlet to focus on. Music therapy has also been shown to calm neural activity in the brain which can reduce anxiety and have a positive effect on neurophysiological and emotional responses.

Boosts your Immune System

Writing and listening to music have been shown to boost your immune system and make your body healthier. Writing increases your levels of CD4 lymphocytes, which keep you healthy by stimulating other immune cells to fight infection.  Sitting down and listening to your favorite song can also help to stimulate and rejuvenate your immune system. Music affects our brains in many complex ways, stimulating the limbic system and tempering our response to stressful situations.

Increase cognitive function

Music improves the connection and cooperation between the two sides of your brain. Studies show that people who play musical instruments have better communication between the left and right side of the brain, which improves cognitive functions. Playing an instrument can help improve reading and math skills, problem-solving and memory retention.

Can help disease prevention

Being creative can help prevent degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Creativity helps to reduce cognitive decline in the brain and can help keep your brain sharp.  Creative activities also help you to relax which can help lower your blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease later in life.

Creativity is more than just a way to practice self-care. Health Initiates is committed to creating outlets for Georgia Tech to see these benefits and have opportunities to practice creativity.  Edmonds said, “Our programs and events, aim to give the Georgia Tech community ways to engage in activities that allow them to be creative because we see all the wonderful benefits. Whether it’s creating vision boards or developing programs, we want to give our community the opportunity to be as creative as possible!” For more information on how to stay healthy and thriving, go to healthinitiatives.gatech.edu.