Can Art Improve Your Health?
It’s not news to most of us that our environment can have an impact on our mood. A cloudy day. Working in a cubicle farm. Growing up in poverty.(a)
But can it also impact our health? There’s a growing body of research that suggests the beneficial effects of picking and hanging(b) the “right” artwork in hospitals, to help healing and improve patients’ mood:
Upali Nanda, who has a doctorate in architecture with a specialization in health-care systems and design, says scientific studies show that art can aid(c) in the recovery of patients, shorten hospital stays and help manage pain.
But she says it has to be the right art – vivid paintings of landscapes, friendly faces and familiar objects can lower(d) blood pressure and heart rate, while abstract pictures can have the opposite effect.
Nanda and two university professors did a study at Houston’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital using two types of art. In the first group were images that had been proved to calm patients, including green landscapes, water scenes, cultural artifacts and emotionally expressive pictures of people. The second group contained abstract pieces. When asked which they preferred, most patients chose images from the first group.
Not surprising, since that opinion reflects most people’s opinion about those two groups of artwork in the real world. Ambiguous artwork, such as many abstract paintings, provokes anxiety in many people, while familiar scenes of people and the outdoors are more serene and something most people can identify with. The article theorizes that people feel more at ease(e) with paintings of trees, flowers and fields, allowing them to project their own feelings of uneasiness or anxiety onto them.
Can you imagine how simple and inexpensive making hospitals look, well, hospitable is, compared to all the fancy imaging equipment and latest micro-surgery tools? And yet, these components can be just as important to a patient’s recovery as taking the right pills at the right time. Sterile white hallways might make for a clean environment, but it does nothing for the needs of being human in such places. After all, hospitals aren’t technology clean-rooms — they are where we treat people. And people are emotional and social creatures who value the familiar.
Of course artwork isn’t going to heal anybody’s wounds, but it can help speed the healing process after-the-fact.
GROHOL, J. (2009). Pode Art melhorar sua saúde? Psych Central. Disponível em: <http:// psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/09/01/can_art_melhorar_seu_health/>. Acesso em: 10 out. 2014.
