The following blog is a winner of the Brainy Blog Competition.
I have been wondering if art calms your brain, because it does for me even when I am just scribbling something. Now, let’s talk about REAL facts. I have found out that ART has an impact on our brain wave patterns and emotions, and the nervous system can actually raise serotonin levels. Research has proven art can develop neural systems that produce a broad spectrum of benefits from great creativity and improved emotional balance. AWESOME!!! That is a lot to take in, but it is cool. Also, did you know that the frontal cortex is the center of creativity! and it is the main reason we can think creatively. It contributes to creative thinking (such as drawing or imagining). Wow!!! art does do a lot of cool and good things to our brain. Just with what I have gathered so far.
Have you ever wondered how your brain processes paintings and artworks? well, I am going to tell you how the brain does it. It’s kind of complicated but I will put it in simple words. Your brain is divided into a lot of different parts, believe me, a LOT. The part that I am going to be focusing on is the visual cortex, which is also called the occipital lobe. This is one of the main lobes of the brain. Sounds complicated right. Because, it is where everything you see gets stored, and when you see paintings and artworks everything gets stored there. Which is cool because all of the information gets stored at the back of the brain. Remember, all of the information has to travel through the brain to get to the visual cortex, also think about how fast the information has to get through. The information travels through a nerve called the optical nerve.
Now, I am going to talk about how art is good for your brain. I have done enough research to say that art can make the prefrontal cortex (also known as the hippocampus) stronger. Drawing increases many of the cognitive functions that researchers typically call as ‘Creative’ and ‘Right brained’ activities. That is good news. Art also strengthens the visual cortex. Art can calm stress and anger. Psychology Today reported a study published this year in The Journal of Korean Medical Science discovered that, “Mindful art therapy helped ease anxiety symptoms in people with heart disease.”
When you are drawing, multiple parts of your brain are working together like, when you draw, your cerebellum help you move your hand to the right direction and your frontal cortex makes up an idea of what to draw and sends it to your cerebellum which then makes your to hand draw it, then your eye transfers what it sees to the optic nerve then the nerve sends it to the visual cortex and then it sorts out all the information and then sends it to the cerebellum which then makes a correct muscle move.
The last and final fact is that all of your frontal areas of your brain get most of their strength from brain waves, and as I have mentioned before, art produces a lot of brain waves, so art is good for your brain. As you can see with all of the information I have gathered so far, art is really good for your brain and makes certain parts of your brain stronger.
I hope you believe that art calms your brain and remember to “draw and keep your brain strong”.
Author: Lakshana Arumugam