Top 8 Surprising Benefits of Attending an Online Painting Class

Painting is a creative outlet. But painting does more than just tickle your creative side.

Painting can relieve stress and boost your cognition. It can bolster your memory and cultivate emotional growth.

Today, scientists are learning more about the evidence-based benefits of painting – including the physical and mental benefits of attending an online painting class.

8) Painting boosts your ability to cope with stress

In a 2014 study, researchers in Germany used an MRI to analyze the cognitive health of creative and non-creative people.

Researchers noticed significant improvements in “psychological resilience” among those who spent time creating visual art, which means they were better able to cope with stress and negative emotions. Those who spent less time creating visual art were less psychologically resilient.

7) Painting reduces risk of cognitive decline

Many older adults look for ways to reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Keeping your brain active is important at any age, but it’s particularly important as you get older.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic analyzed the lifestyle habits of 286 adults in their 80s to determine why some adults had a lower risk of cognitive decline than others. The study found that certain activities predicted cognitive impairment, while other activities had a protective effect – they reduced the risk of cognitive impairment.

An active social life at any age was linked with a lower risk of mild cognitive impairment, as was computer usage among older adults.

However, the behavior with the biggest neuroprotective effect was “artistic activity”, which included painting, drawing, and sculpting. Adults who engaged in these activities had significantly fewer instances of cognitive decline.

6) Painting boosts problem-solving by accessing new areas of your brain

When you paint, you access unique areas of your brain, including areas that aren’t touched by normal everyday activities.

In an interview with NPR, Girija Kaimal, a professor of art therapy at Drexel University, explained that art flexes our imagination. In fact, she believes art is what separated us from our cave-dwelling predecessors. When painting on cave walls, our predecessors flexed their creativity, and this creativity spurred them to solve problems that humans had never previously solved – like how to make a fire or how to create a functioning society.

Could art help you evolve as a human being?It’s certainly possible!

5) Art enhances creativity

In the same interview, Professor Kaimal explained that art helps us be more creative. The human brain is naturally predictive. The brain uses information to make predictions about we might do next, including predictions that help us survive and thrive.

When you make art, you’re making a series of decisions – even if you’re not really thinking about it. You’re deciding what type of paintbrush to use, what colors to use, and how to translate something you see onto a painting. You’re interpreting information, then making decisions based on that information.

With art, you don’t have a single right or wrong answer. You don’t have to pick a specific paintbrush or color. Art forces your brain to think differently.

4) Painting increases blood flow to the brain

Many of the benefits of painting above are linked to cognition. Some studies have found a possible reason for that cognitive boost: painting could increase blood flow to the brain.

This 2017 study published in The Arts in Psychotherapy found creating art increased blood flow to the brain’s reward center, the medial prefrontal cortex. Researchers asked 26 participants to complete three art activities,including coloring, doodling, or drawing freely. Researchers found all three activities increased blood flow to the brain.

3) Painting could help manage addiction issues, eating disorders, and mood disorders

In the study linked above, researchers found that art not only increased blood flow to the brain – it increased blood flow to the reward center of the brain.

Why is this important? This increased blood flow helps anyone feel better. However, it’s particularly important for those with health conditions that activate the brain’s reward pathways – like addiction issues, eating disorders, or mood disorders.

2) Painting lowers stress

Modern life can be stressful. When life is stressful, your body creates more of the stress hormone cortisol. It’s a survival mechanism. Cortisol is linked with cardiovascular issues, cognitive problems, weight gain, and other issues.

Painting could help manage levels of the stress hormone cortisol. In this 2016 study in the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, researchers measured the cortisol levels of 39 healthy adults, then asked them to create art for 45 minutes in a studio setting with an art therapist. Researchers measured cortisol levels after and found they were significantly lower.

It’s not just advanced painters who benefit! In that study, researchers found no significant difference in cortisol between professional artists and first-timers. No matter your skill level, a 45-minute painting session seemed to significantly lower cortisol levels.

1) Art boosts focus

With so many distractions today, it can be hard to focus. Painting could help.

You know that feeling when you get so involved in an activity – you lose sense of time and space? Some call it ‘flow’. Others call it ‘the zone’. One 2018 study found a measurable change in the brain when you’re in ‘the zone’: your brain has higher theta wave activity in the frontal areas – the same areas impacted by painting and other artistic activities.

Sign up for an online painting class today!

Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, painting has a measurable impact on the body.