When you think of coloring, you probably think back to when you were young, carelessly scribbling across a page. However, have you ever thought about how that same scribbling could be beneficial to you? It supplies numerous benefits for your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Not just coloring, but also crafts and any form of art-making provide people with many benefits.
Taking a further look at one of these benefits, according to a Beaumont study, “Making art has the ability to relax the fear center of your brain, the amygdala. It induces the same state as meditating by reducing the thoughts of a restless mind. This generates mindfulness and quietness.”
Essentially, creating art can significantly reduce stress and anxiety and improve your levels of mindfulness by relaxing your brain and calming your mind.
From a 2018 study conducted by the Journal of Integrated Social Sciences, “Coping strategies to deal with stress and negative emotions vary by individual and situation. For instance, emotion-focused strategies are techniques used to deal with the negative emotional states associated with the stressor (Zhou, Li, Li, Wang, & Zhao, 2017) but not the stressor itself (which would be called problem-focused coping).”
“Creating art or crafts is an example of an emotion-focused strategy as it provides a way to manage negative emotional states associated with the stressor,” the study stated. The study explains the lifetime prevalence of anxiety in 18-64 year-olds is 40.4% in females, 26.4% in males, 38.8% in females, and 26.8% in males ages 13-17 years and that creating art is beneficial to all genders and ages.
From the same Beaumont study, we also learn that specifically, coloring goes beyond being a fun activity. “It requires the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate. While logic helps us stay inside the lines, choosing colors generates a creative thought process.” Coloring can improve your brain function significantly.
Coloring, whether it be in a mindful coloring book or just on a blank sheet of paper, improves motor skills and requires both parts of the brain to work together.
Although you may not think it, this kind of art-making can better your self-confidence as it supplies you with a sense of accomplishment and completion.
Crafting also benefits sleep. Exposure to blue light can hinder the sleep schedule, meaning it’s crucial to limit electronic device usage before bed. A craft even a few hours before going to sleep allows the body to naturally lower melatonin levels and enter a mindful state of relaxation hours before sleep.
Some might argue that making art is a tedious, pointless, uninteresting hobby or rather, a waste of space. However, many would disagree.
Art teacher Maure Irwin-Furmanek has been teaching art for 25 years. Irwin-Furmanek teaches AP Studio, IB Visual Arts, Master Studio, Painting, and Mindfulness Practices in Art, and offers Independent Studio exclusively at Delta High School.
Irwin-Furmanek started Mindfulness Practices in Art for the 23-24 school year. According to the course selection guide, the course is intended to provide students with tools that promote mental health from making art. Students will work with various art practices including but not limited to drawing, painting, collage, etc. The guide emphasizes that no previous art experience is necessary.
Irwin-Furmanek said, “I think the reason I decided to start it, is because I realized in my painting classes, kids would kinda get into a zone of painting. It felt like this was a needed class where students who would maybe not necessarily think of themselves as artists would be able to come and make, but it really is more about the making process than the outcome. So even though we work through skills, we’re more about making and kind of the whole class is just kind of focusing on that.”
She also talked about how she believed art is a way for students to be hands-on and zone out of their minds. She said that being in an environment that creates an artistic flow can relax you and Mindfulness Practices in Art was the perfect class for just that.
Irwin-Furmanek has an exciting new proposal for the district in the next few years. She hopes to redesign one of the courtyard areas as an outdoor space for students to create art and use the outside as an inspiration for projects.
Art, in all its many forms, has many benefits that will positively impact students mentally and physically. Regardless of what form, you should create the art that makes you happy.
