Creating art has many benefits, but did you know it can even affect your thinking? Check out a few ways we found on how art improves your cognitive function.
1) Art can broaden your perspective.
When you’re able to think creatively it can open you up to finding new solutions you otherwise wouldn’t have thought of. “It’s like looking at an image upside down, to see it for what it is and not just as the image your eye is “trained” to see. When we develop our ability to think creatively, we are able to find new solutions to the problems on which we are working, both in our labs and in our lives,” according to MIT News. 
2) Art, particularly art education, can increase your observation skills.
According to Walden University, “Art education teaches students to observe the world more closely. Good art is often complex, layered with multiple elements and meanings. It takes time to find, examine, and consider the numerous details that constitute most works of art.”
3) Art can improve your ability to empathise.
“Exposure to the arts also affects the values of young people, making them more tolerant and empathetic. We suspect that their awareness of different people, places, and ideas through the arts helps them appreciate and accept the differences they find in the broader world,” according to ED WEEK.
4) Viewing art such as a live performance, can make you feel connected.
“ Our brains like to share emotions with others. This is just one reason that seeing a live performance — a concert, play, opera, etc. — is a neural rush. With our brain’s capacity for emotion and empathy, even in the wordless art of dance we can begin to discover meaning — and a story,” according to the Washignton Post.
5. Creating art can be incredibly healing.
According to a study done by the U.S. National Institute of Health’s (NIH), “The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature” by Heather L. Stuckey, DEd and Jeremy Nobel, MD, “Engagement with creative activities has the potential to contribute toward reducing stress and depression and can serve as a vehicle for alleviating the burden of chronic disease.” 
