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Monday, January 12, 2026
Engaging with art is good for your health, new analysis reveals.
Artsy: We all might think that art is good for us, but now scientists are adding to research that’s making it official. Daisy Fancourt, a professor of epidemiology at University College London, is about to make a case for the arts that is anything but subjective.
8 comments:
Mothman
said...
I believe it is very likely that the case made in this article is true. That engaging with art is good for you physically and mentally. But I do wonder if the data that this is based off of that Fancourt is analyzing could potentially have other reasons for people being in good health and somewhat of a correlation with more art experience what I’m thinking is that apparently the studies ask about culture engagement alongside data like income and health and I draw the conclusion that it’s possible that these people who are having better health outcomes are people who have higher incomes and those incomes both allow them to participate more regularly in experiencing art and cultural content, and also that income allows them to have more access to preemptive healthcare and also healthcare when something goes wrong. This is just a theory I’m thinking generally about the connections that could also be made here. I’m not the one that looked at the data and I do think it’s likely I do believe that investing yourself in culture and art is beneficial for you. I just wonder if there are also other conclusions that can be drawn from the data.
As a child who has been a part of the arts since I was three years old, I have always felt like art and theater were directly connected to my health and especially my mental health, and I've always read articles about how patience and coma can hear music and how beneficial music can be in specific situations. I think that art can be such a good health benefit to everyone because everyone interprets art and their own way, and there's no pressure when it comes to art; it is just the audience perceives it to be, and it's however the audience experiences it, since that art piece. That is why art is so magical, and how art is so subjective. In the future, I would love to look into and read more about studies connecting music or other types of art to the human body. Even playing with the idea of what types of art mediums affect our health in different ways.
I am so happy to see people researching the correlation between art and health. As someone who has been practicing arts for over 10 years, I’ve always been a passionate person who wants more people to feel the benefits of being involved in any sort of arts practice. I’ve long tried to convince people to draw no matter the outcome, just to make their minds subtle and calm at the present moment. With scientific evidence to back my mission to convert more artists in this world, I believe more people will find their moment of realization and start working on arts. For example, drawing. It requires people to have a long chunk of time to capture what they really want in their minds. During that highly focused time, our brain will take us into the flowing time of doing things with passion non-stop.
As with everyone else responding to this article, I agree that it’s incredibly validating as someone pursuing an artistic career to see scientific research backing up the claim that art does more good for your health than meets the eye. I feel like I always knew this fact to be true, despite not having much pre-existing studies confirming such. For children especially, I knew art to be necessary for brain development and overall skill-building. Thinking about hobbies in particular too, many common hobbies such as crafting, sewing, sculpting, drawing, etc… are described as “relaxing” from those pursuing them. For me, that hobby was always crocheting, and it helped me de-stress while having something to do with my hands that seemed productive overall. I hope that these studies continue to grow as more researchers take interest in the subject, especially since in our digital age hobbies as a whole are becoming less popular and inaccessible due to monetary obstacles.
I thought this article was really interesting because I’ve always felt like art is good for people, but I never knew there were huge long-term studies backing that up. At the same time, I wonder about how much of the correlation might be connected to things like income or free time. Since the studies also look at people’s education and financial situations, it made me think that maybe the people who engage with art more often are also the ones who have better access to healthcare or healthier lifestyles in general. I’m not saying the research is wrong at all, but it feels like there could be more going on in the background. Even with that in mind, I still agree that art really helps. I’ve always felt calmer and more focused when I’m doing something creative, so the idea that it improves mental and physical health makes total sense to me. It’s nice to see research taking the arts seriously instead of treating them like something “extra.”
As much as I want to believe this article, I find its claims a little dubious. Simply linking people who interact with art with things like reduced depression and improved health says more about correlation than causation. I think there is probably a large chance that this link is due to the fact that people with higher incomes have more time to spend on things like looking at art, and are capable of doing things like looking at originals rather than reproductions. Yes, interacting with art is wonderful and everyone should have the opportunity to do it, but I think this author’s claim is rather bold. Perhaps I will have to purchase and read this book after it comes out on February 3rd to see if there is any quantifiable evidence that interacting with art is actually good for you, and not just a symptom of a higher quality of life.
I think this is a common thread in the art world: art saved my life. Without any of the scientific parts of the article, making and participating in art has given me a community and a team to fall back on. It has taught me that there is merit to working as a team, and things are and can be better when done as a collective. Specifically, theatre and working in theaters have shown me these things. I'm glad people are finally understanding this is true! The only thing I find odd about this article is the specification of "participants with no prior history of depression." I do think, however, that this research will show the importance of the arts, and maybe increase understanding that we need funding and support? Because our contributions to society are not just surface level and entertainment? But that would never happen. I hope they continue this research, though!
I’ve always known that art is a huge destresser in the modern day but it’s really interesting to see that it goes beyond just normal enrichment. However I am a bit skeptical of how this study was done(it’s not really considered in a lot of common factors people who look at art already have) , I think that it’s cool that it’s a research topic people are actually interested in handling. I also wonder if this study would have different results if its sample size was from another country, as art cultures are different in different parts of the globe . I was really curious on how art effects physical health as I couldn’t really think of how it would effect someone’s physical body but it potentially affecting blood pressure wasn’t what I expected and while I can’t pretend to understand how that would work I’m assuming since stress and fatigue is a huge part of high blood pressure art can be used to reduce the causes of high blood pressure instead of the blood pressure itself.
8 comments:
I believe it is very likely that the case made in this article is true. That engaging with art is good for you physically and mentally. But I do wonder if the data that this is based off of that Fancourt is analyzing could potentially have other reasons for people being in good health and somewhat of a correlation with more art experience what I’m thinking is that apparently the studies ask about culture engagement alongside data like income and health and I draw the conclusion that it’s possible that these people who are having better health outcomes are people who have higher incomes and those incomes both allow them to participate more regularly in experiencing art and cultural content, and also that income allows them to have more access to preemptive healthcare and also healthcare when something goes wrong. This is just a theory I’m thinking generally about the connections that could also be made here. I’m not the one that looked at the data and I do think it’s likely I do believe that investing yourself in culture and art is beneficial for you. I just wonder if there are also other conclusions that can be drawn from the data.
As a child who has been a part of the arts since I was three years old, I have always felt like art and theater were directly connected to my health and especially my mental health, and I've always read articles about how patience and coma can hear music and how beneficial music can be in specific situations. I think that art can be such a good health benefit to everyone because everyone interprets art and their own way, and there's no pressure when it comes to art; it is just the audience perceives it to be, and it's however the audience experiences it, since that art piece. That is why art is so magical, and how art is so subjective. In the future, I would love to look into and read more about studies connecting music or other types of art to the human body. Even playing with the idea of what types of art mediums affect our health in different ways.
I am so happy to see people researching the correlation between art and health. As someone who has been practicing arts for over 10 years, I’ve always been a passionate person who wants more people to feel the benefits of being involved in any sort of arts practice. I’ve long tried to convince people to draw no matter the outcome, just to make their minds subtle and calm at the present moment. With scientific evidence to back my mission to convert more artists in this world, I believe more people will find their moment of realization and start working on arts. For example, drawing. It requires people to have a long chunk of time to capture what they really want in their minds. During that highly focused time, our brain will take us into the flowing time of doing things with passion non-stop.
As with everyone else responding to this article, I agree that it’s incredibly validating as someone pursuing an artistic career to see scientific research backing up the claim that art does more good for your health than meets the eye. I feel like I always knew this fact to be true, despite not having much pre-existing studies confirming such. For children especially, I knew art to be necessary for brain development and overall skill-building. Thinking about hobbies in particular too, many common hobbies such as crafting, sewing, sculpting, drawing, etc… are described as “relaxing” from those pursuing them. For me, that hobby was always crocheting, and it helped me de-stress while having something to do with my hands that seemed productive overall. I hope that these studies continue to grow as more researchers take interest in the subject, especially since in our digital age hobbies as a whole are becoming less popular and inaccessible due to monetary obstacles.
I thought this article was really interesting because I’ve always felt like art is good for people, but I never knew there were huge long-term studies backing that up. At the same time, I wonder about how much of the correlation might be connected to things like income or free time. Since the studies also look at people’s education and financial situations, it made me think that maybe the people who engage with art more often are also the ones who have better access to healthcare or healthier lifestyles in general. I’m not saying the research is wrong at all, but it feels like there could be more going on in the background. Even with that in mind, I still agree that art really helps. I’ve always felt calmer and more focused when I’m doing something creative, so the idea that it improves mental and physical health makes total sense to me. It’s nice to see research taking the arts seriously instead of treating them like something “extra.”
As much as I want to believe this article, I find its claims a little dubious. Simply linking people who interact with art with things like reduced depression and improved health says more about correlation than causation. I think there is probably a large chance that this link is due to the fact that people with higher incomes have more time to spend on things like looking at art, and are capable of doing things like looking at originals rather than reproductions. Yes, interacting with art is wonderful and everyone should have the opportunity to do it, but I think this author’s claim is rather bold. Perhaps I will have to purchase and read this book after it comes out on February 3rd to see if there is any quantifiable evidence that interacting with art is actually good for you, and not just a symptom of a higher quality of life.
I think this is a common thread in the art world: art saved my life. Without any of the scientific parts of the article, making and participating in art has given me a community and a team to fall back on. It has taught me that there is merit to working as a team, and things are and can be better when done as a collective. Specifically, theatre and working in theaters have shown me these things. I'm glad people are finally understanding this is true! The only thing I find odd about this article is the specification of "participants with no prior history of depression." I do think, however, that this research will show the importance of the arts, and maybe increase understanding that we need funding and support? Because our contributions to society are not just surface level and entertainment? But that would never happen. I hope they continue this research, though!
I’ve always known that art is a huge destresser in the modern day but it’s really interesting to see that it goes beyond just normal enrichment. However I am a bit skeptical of how this study was done(it’s not really considered in a lot of common factors people who look at art already have) , I think that it’s cool that it’s a research topic people are actually interested in handling. I also wonder if this study would have different results if its sample size was from another country, as art cultures are different in different parts of the globe . I was really curious on how art effects physical health as I couldn’t really think of how it would effect someone’s physical body but it potentially affecting blood pressure wasn’t what I expected and while I can’t pretend to understand how that would work I’m assuming since stress and fatigue is a huge part of high blood pressure art can be used to reduce the causes of high blood pressure instead of the blood pressure itself.
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