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Margaret Clair: Hi, thanks for checking in today to Art Matters to Your Wellbeing. I'm Margaret Clair, a performing artist, not a scientist. And this podcast is about how art, any art can positively contribute to your wellbeing and how you can mindfully make it a part of your daily life. Aside from the fact that some zoos fundraised by selling elephant and ape artwork, one of the major differences between us, meaning humans and animals, is our need to express ourselves through art.

Remember the cave paintings? I would go further to say that appreciation of beauty is also part of being human. I'm not sure elephants enjoy a good sunset. Maybe they do. Art is not only an intrinsic part of being human, but as technology increases our ability to see our response to stimuli, studies are increasingly showing that the benefit to our physical bodies from either creating or beholding art.

That's pretty cool. You can reap the benefits by sitting back and enjoying a concert or a trip to the museum. If we start from the understanding that we, meaning humans, are a balance of mind, body, soul, it's a pretty easy jump to see that beautiful things like art affect us in all three; mind where the emotions live, the soul, that part that connects with spirit, and body, the thing we move through this physical life with. We don't always consciously acknowledge how they affect us. Sometimes we just acknowledge that we feel good, kind of like James Brown. For some of you, just feeling good may be enough, but for those who want to know more and have more control over your emotions, mood and general wellbeing, we are now able to track physical and brain responses to art more precisely.

Your soul response is not trackable by technology yet, but here's something from the Bible that might help. Yes, The Bible. In Matthew and Luke, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy from the Old Testament when he said, man shall not live by bread alone. The implication is that the spirit must be cared for as well as the body.

In fact, we cannot separate them. The synergy between mind, body, and soul is essential to our overall wellbeing. We are a tripod with all three are in balance. So are we. When one is out of balance, the other two lose theirs.

Sidebar, there is some deeper discussion to be had about soul versus spirit, but that's another whole program. I'm going to use the word soul to mean the essence of being a human, that part of us, which is immaterial and eternal. So if art is part of what makes us human and art elicits a response in our multisensory system, and humans require a balance of this system, meaning mind, body, and soul, then art is essential to our balance or our wellbeing.

Artists have known intuitively that the arts, both visual and performance, have benefits beyond entertainment. Now, finally, as technology allows us to measure certain results of sensory input, the benefits of the arts to our wellbeing is coming to light. So how does art affect this trifecta of mind, body, and soul that together make up our wellbeing?

Remember, I'm not a scientist, but try this on. We are sensory beings. We see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. That is physical, ie, our bodies. What happens when one or more of those senses is triggered? A signal or signals are sent to our brain, which then interprets them to come up with a response. Very often, the brain combines information from multiple sensory systems.

The brain can pull in memory information in deciding how to respond, sensory information can be stored as part of a memory. Helping us to remember. The smell of a cigar always elicits a pleasant memory of my grandfather. The Beatles song I Wanna Hold Your Hand, takes me back to second grade and my very cool friend Patty. Mind, ie. memory, connects to emotion. Stop and think of a favorite song from childhood or a wedding. Your prom, a family event. Does it make you feel happy? Do you tear up? Does it make you want to call your friend or your sister or your father? Do you want to dance? What memory does it elicit? Does your heart start racing?

Do you feel more calm? Does it bring a smile to your face? Here's a great quote from Julie Bolt Taylor from the book, Your Brain on Art. We are feeling beings who think, not thinking beings who feel, but more than just a memory and an emotional response; something happens in our bodies when we listen to music, view an architectural wonder or a beautiful piece of art, or an awe-inspiring sunset.

The mind, body, soul connection seems stronger. Our spirits can be lifted. What we think, and thus how we feel can be changed. Again, one of the amazing things about art is that these changes can happen whether you are the maker or the beholder. So you can go to a museum or take a painting class, go to a concert, or play your guitar, sit on the beach, or make a sand castle.

Art does the job, regardless of your level of physical engagement. You don't have to be an artist to reap the benefits. That is amazing. Now my particular thing happens to be music and musical theater, so I'll talk about that as an example. Assuming we are all on board with the fact that music or any art can make us feel something.

Let's get into the nitty gritty of the physiological benefits. Music promotes neuroplasticity. In other words, music can stimulate the growth of new connections in the brain. Music can keep the brain engaged through the aging process. It can improve mental alertness and certain cognitive functions. I'm going to tell you a story here now, a personal story.

As a singer, very often I was, in nursing homes to entertain some of the residents. They would wheel them in pretty much near comatose. After about 10 minutes, you started to see the eyes open, come alive. There was something behind them. They were sitting there maybe moving their bodies or they were singing along.

So I have seen in action how cognitive function can improve just by listening to music. Music can also improve sleep quality. It can improve endurance. Runners run faster and feel more motivated when listening to music as they run. How many of you clean the house with the music cranked up? Music can manage pain.

One study had patients listen to music of their own choice before performing a motor task. It helped reduce pain and increased mobility. Listening to music pre-surgery resulted in better outcomes in 7,000 patients requiring less medication to manage pain. Music can help you process information more efficiently, jog your memory, cope with stress, lower cortisol, and increase oxytocin levels.

Can help you eat less, mellow music in dim lights. So have a romantic dinner and lose weight.

If you want to firm up your body head to the gym. If you want to exercise your brain, listen to music. That comes from John Hopkins Medical Center. Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain, as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.

Think of art as a daily vitamin. On a deeper level, the arts can explicitly be applied therapeutically. The idea of music as a healing influence, which could affect health and behavior is at least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato, and in some cultures, much earlier. Plato theorized that medical centers should embed art, music, and many other forms of healing into its core.

Ancient Greek physicians like Asclepiades, used music particularly from flutes and harps to treat conditions like gout and melancholia, or depression as we know it.

Some indigenous communities also believed in integration between mind and body, and that only when harmony was achieved, could health be restored. Judaism, Sufism and Hinduism have long incorporated music into healing practices. In the 18th and 19th centuries, medical dissertations on the therapeutic effects of music began to appear, and some physicians started considering patients' musical preferences in treatment.

Hospitals like the Hand Well Lunatic Asylum also began using music for healing. That's a horrible name, but they were one of the first to remove restraints and use therapies to improve and actually heal patients. The earliest known reference to music therapy appeared in 1789 in an article titled Music Physically Considered. Florence Nightingale, a pioneer in nursing noted the positive effects of music on healing. Particularly in reducing pain, anxiety, and stress in soldiers during the Crimean War in the 1850s. In 1914, Evan O'Neill Kane published his report in the Journal of the American Medical Association on the use of the phonograph within the operating room.

Patients from this study identified that anesthetic induction was better coupled with music for reducing anxiety prior to surgery. Let's talk about Western Medicine and World Wars I and II. The use of music therapy expanded significantly as musicians volunteered or were hired to work with returning soldiers suffering from physical and emotional trauma.

Community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, went to veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars. The responses to music's therapeutic benefit led to increased demand for trained music therapists.

The music therapy profession began after World War I and grew to a more formalized discipline in the 1930s, which led to the First War Department programs and university degrees after World War II. The patient's notable physical and emotional responses to music led doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals.

It was soon evident that the hospital musicians needed some prior training before entering the facility, and so the demand grew for a college curriculum. Music, art, and drama therapy have been around since ancient times, even though formalized study and degrees are much more recent. Historically, these therapies have focused on existing conditions, but the newest research explores preventative medicine.

If you start now using music or art as part of your wellness routine, you'll be ahead of the game. Some of the beauties of art as a therapy is that it is completely customizable. It can't harm you. There are no ill side effects. Start your art journey by enjoying the art around you. Then take a moment to notice how you feel.

Take time to smell the roses. Take note of your senses, what you hear, see or touch, the clouds, the flowers, the birds, the music in stores, in church, the music behind every film, video or podcast. Art in the halls of the hospitals, schools, offices, sculptures around the city. Every building has architecture and decoration.

The art of fashion and makeup. Go to concerts, museums, practice your hobby, play your guitar, listen to music. Remember whether you make it or behold it, art matters to your wellbeing.

Thanks for listening. If you have any comments or questions, you can email me at clairm@sanjuancollege.edu or find us on Facebook at Henderson Fine Arts Center.

And please, whenever possible, keep supporting the arts and artists so you can continue to lower your blood pressure and feel good. Alexa, play relaxing music.