Daddy's Christmas Angel

Monday, May 11, 2015

Can Making Art Protect You from Memory Problems in Later Life?

An article by Tom Post in Pacific Standard recently caught my attention because it detailed a Mayo Clinic study about the positive affects of decades of making art that could mean "fewer cognitive problems in old age." Since I've painted, sculpted, and drawn pictures all of my life, I was intrigued. Making art and being creative are good for our mental well-being. It makes a lot of sense.

The article also mentions the positive impact using a computer can have for older people, especially if they picked up the habit of surfing the Web in their middle years. This is great news for writers. After all, where do we spend much of our time?

Socializing with others is also important when it comes to remembering and thinking. As with working in the arts and getting on the computer, it's important to start in mid-life and continue through the later years.

I really loved this quote from the Tom Post article:


“Long ago, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ was a common expression,” Dr. James Galvin writes in a comment accompanying the study, which is published in the journal Neurology. “Perhaps today, the expression should expand to include painting an apple, going to the store with a friend to buy an apple, and using an Apple product.”

Arts Alive Mixed Media artist workshop ©Mary Montague Sikes
Bloggers should delight  in this small but interesting Mayo Clinic study. Let's keep writing, using the computer, and never give up painting! Go were you find the joy.

6 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I use an apple product!
Creativity stimulates the brain, so that makes sense.

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Thanks, Alex. Apple products are really popular!

Nilanjana Bose said...

Don't use an Apple product myself :) but so agree with the premise. Art keeps people young and is life affirming.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Monti - they're saying if you eat an apple before you go into the supermarket - you'll buy fewer junk foods ...

I use an Apple product (both of them not very well - the time is coming for me to settle with them and LEARN!!) ... and I eat apples ... sometimes as the main ingredient in a savoury salad - which I have every day ...

They are now very pro art work and music for the elderly with deteriorating brains ...

Stimulating, creative and keeping healthy are so important - but if we have the gene - we seem to have it .. I don't think I have - thankfully ... it's not in the family.

Cheers Hilary

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Yes, Nilanjana, art and poetry make a difference in all stages of life!

Hilary, genes make a difference as well--in mental health as well as in many other things. Art always makes for a happier life!

Birgit said...

Creativity, writing, exercising one's mind is so important. Art truly helps and even when people are suffering from dementia, being creative makes them happy. I have volunteered and helped them make cards and they enjoyed themselves which is important. You have to keep things very simple and not bring anything they can eat (like glitter) but it really helps