Painting is Good for You

Painting is one of the oldest and the easiest ways to express your creativity. It is also an amazing way to relax, stimulate creativity, keep our minds engaged and just pass the time. While we don’t have to be Picassos and Michelangelos, focused painting has many benefits. A 2017 Harvard study found that art has healing powers and is associated with improved memory, reasoning and resilience in seniors.

Here’s Why Painting is Good for You!

Plenty of research states that artistic pursuits engage the mind and simultaneously utilise more than one centre in the brain. Such creative mental exercises stimulate the mind and help seniors stay active. For people with dementia or Alzheimer’s, painting is an excellent way to forge new nerve connections and help cut through memory loss.

Physical Benefits

Painting requires you to use your hands, particularly your wrists and fingers. You need fine motor skills to move the brush, handle the paint, and create comprehensible art. For the same reason, painting helps seniors with limited mobility or movement issues stay engaged, activates their muscles and assists them in fine motor skill development. Painting is particularly helpful for older adults with arthritis. The strokes and hand movements help relieve pain and swelling in the wrists and fingers.

Not just physical benefits, but painting offers countless emotional and mental health benefits too. As human beings, stress is a natural reaction to unfavourable situations and life events. As we grow older, challenges in life can increase our stress levels, sometimes bordering on the unhealthy. Painting is an outlet to release stress and prevent its harmful effects like anxiety, depression, irritability or associated physical ailments. In fact, it acts as a relaxing pursuit for seniors.

Mental Benefits

Depression and isolation are common among the elderly today. As we grow older, fulfil our responsibilities, and deal with situations like retirement and empty nest syndrome, it is natural to lose purpose in life. Creative activities like painting give you a sense of purpose, achievement, and happiness that can improve your overall well-being. Joining a painting class is also a great way to meet other people, socialise, and give yourself something to look forward to daily.

Did you know that painting can be great for your cognitive health too? This activity allows older adults to free their minds and think innovatively. Painting, therefore, improves cognition and keeps your mind active

Other Benefits of Painting for Seniors Include:

• Learning something new gives you a sense of control

• It makes your independent life exciting

• Mood boosters

• Improved social skills

• Enables better self-expression

• Helps in chronic pain relief

• Improves memory

• Creating a painting gives you a sense of achievement, instantly making you feel happy and gratified

• You can display your paintings among your friends and family, bringing everyone, including you, immense joy

• Paintings are a great handmade gift for your loved ones

Key Takeaway

Given the benefits of painting for seniors and older adults, joining an art class is a great idea for you. Experience the pure joy of painting with your favourite kind of paint accessories. With plenty of books and online resources to learn from, painting is an excellent indoor or outdoor activity.

The best part about painting? Well, it’s a whole lot of fun!

O50s
Australian Over 50s Living & Lifestyle Guide

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