What if doctors prescribed more art? WHO analyzes the benefits of art for health and well-being

For the World Health Organization different types of artistic expression They are necessary to help understand, convey concepts and emotions, stimulating all feelings and even the capacity for empathy, which, according to the international organization, means mental health benefits and therefore for physical health.

According to a report prepared by the WHO itself, the results were analyzed, where it was tested how the art plays an important role in preventing health problems, promoting health and treating diseases in people’s lives.

The use of artistic media in healthcare can have a number of benefits.

Activities such as creating and listening to music, dance, visual arts and visiting cultural places help to manage and prevent stress, in addition to reducing anxiety levels.

These studies have also shown that art can also help reduce the risk of developing mental disorders like some types of dementia and depression in old age.

In recent years, numerous studies have taken the subject as an object of study, the potential significance of art in the therapeutic and healing process of disease. For example, various studies have shown the great benefits that reading can have on our health, while other articles have explored its therapeutic effects.

Health and art, healthy dumbbell

The impact of art on health is equally beneficial for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, even with established diseases, for example, mental disorders or dementia.

Some of the categories they analyzed in the UN report are the participation of people in various disciplines such as music, dance, theatre, singing or cinema; fine arts, design and crafts such as crafts, design, painting, photography or sculpture, writing, reading or participate in literary meetings and art online, in digital and electronic formats such as animationfilmmaking and computer design.

An example of what art does to people with chronic diseases, For example, what happens at Una Sonrisa al Dolor, where patients with rheumatic and autoimmune diseases such as lupus or fibromyalgia live in constant pain, sometimes with very painful crises.

Co-existence in association, in painting, needlework and even dancing workshops lulls their illness, so to speak, and although it is present, they live from day to day, despite the pain, cheerfully, without drugs and without treatment. better quality of life.

The results of the study show that Art has the potential to affect both the physical and mental health of people. In terms of prevention and advocacy, the results show how art can influence the social determinants of health, support child development, encourage health-promoting behaviors, help prevent and avoid bad habits, and support self-care and self-care.

As part of the management and treatment of the disease, art can help people who, for example, living with mental illnesssupport for the care of people with acute conditions, assistance to people with neurological diseases and the treatment of noncommunicable diseases, and assistance with end-of-life care.

Not to mention that, for example, in rehabilitation medicine, art is a very useful resource, since, for example, for neurological rehabilitation uses music to stimulate the brain, reactive responses that are required, for example, in people with dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.

Even was recorded as a famous dancer, she was given a piece of music that she performed many times in her youth, she had Alzheimer’s, she was already in a very advanced stage of the disease, when she heard the music she began to dance with her hands, she was already in wheelchairs, his body remembered that he loved so much.