As a result, people are searching for simple, effective ways to get out of a perpetual fight-or-flight mode. And as it turns out, spending just 10 minutes with a pencil and a piece of paper might be one of the easiest ways to do it.<\/p>\n
How drawing resets your nervous system<\/p>\n
When you experience stress, your body\u2019s sympathetic nervous system (aka the fight-or-flight response) becomes activated, said Soma Sengupta, neurologist in chief and chair of neurology at Tufts Medical Center. This system prepares your body to respond to perceived threats by increasing your heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure and the release of stress hormones such as cortisol, she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrawing can help shift attention away from stressful thoughts and encourage activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, sometimes called the \u2018rest and digest\u2019 system,\u201d Sengupta said. \u201cThis system promotes recovery by slowing heart rate, reducing muscle tension and helping the body return to a calmer physiological state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drawing, she explained, actively engages your brain through coordinated movement, vision, attention and decision-making. This combination creates a calming sensory experience while providing the mind with a constructive focus.<\/p>\n
Several brain systems work together during a drawing session, according to Sengupta, which helps explain why it can feel so beneficial.<\/p>\n
First, drawing requires concentration on shapes, colours, lines and hand movements, plus constant communication between the eyes, hands and motor planning regions of the brain, she explained. This focus and coordination helps to anchor your attention in the present, keeping your brain from straying toward negative thoughts like worry or overthinking.<\/p>\n
Working on coordination also strengthens sensory awareness, Sengupta said, which is the ability to consciously notice information coming through your senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste and internal bodily sensations. Some research shows that sensory awareness may reduce anxiety and promote relaxation.<\/p>\n
Visual art also provides a non-verbal way to express emotions. Instead of explaining feelings with words, emotions can be represented through images, colours, patterns or symbols. This process may help people better understand and regulate emotional experiences, according to Sengupta.<\/p>\n
Completing a drawing or seeing a piece of art gradually develop can activate the brain\u2019s reward system, producing modest releases of dopamine associated with motivation, satisfaction and positive reinforcement, Sengupta said.<\/p>\n
If you enjoy drawing, you may feel like you get into a \u201cflow state\u201d. This is when a person becomes fully immersed in an activity that is appropriately challenging, according to Sengupta. During a flow state, self-consciousness decreases, concentration increases, and many people experience a reduction in stress and anxiety, she said.<\/p>\n
Just a few minutes of doodling can do the trick<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to be an artist crafting a masterpiece to reap the calming benefits of drawing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe calming effects [of drawing] appear to result primarily from sustained attention, repetitive movement and engagement with the creative process, rather than from producing a work of art,\u201d Sengupta said. Even just drawing lines, squiggles or geometric shapes can provide many of the same benefits, she explained.<\/p>\n
While drawing can create stress for those who don\u2019t feel competent doing it, therapeutic value may still exist simply through the act of practising something that feels uncomfortable, according to Lombardi. This builds what she called \u201cdistress tolerance\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAvoidance is often a key factor in chronic stress, so engaging in self-regulating activities \u2013 even when they feel challenging \u2013 increases our ability to cope adaptively,\u201d Lombardi said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s little research on how long you should draw to feel calmer. A small 2016 study in Art Therapy found that 45 minutes of art-making reduced participants\u2019 cortisol levels. But Sengupta said shorter sessions can do the trick, noting that even a brief creative practice \u2013 just 10 minutes \u2013 is long enough to interrupt the body\u2019s stress response without feeling like another overwhelming task on an already busy day.<\/p>\n
Indeed, anywhere from five to 20 minutes of drawing may interrupt racing thoughts, reduce immediate stress and improve mood, according to Sengupta.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the therapy sessions I facilitate only last an hour. Often, we are only engaged in the creative process for 20 minutes, yet clients report positive shifts both somatically and emotionally,\u201d Lombardi said.<\/p>\n
If drawing isn\u2019t your thing, don\u2019t worry \u2013 you can still reap these rewards from other art forms.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people respond better to clay, while others find it easier to lose themselves in the process of painting,\u201d Lombardi said. \u201cWhat matters most is finding the media that facilitates that process for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a result, people are searching for simple, effective ways to get out of a perpetual fight-or-flight mode.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9055,4057,27126,200450,198,6097,3072,13492,156,5658,305,221,19475,33086,111,139,69,1118,45644,286018,29158,103127,147,9100,6211,1959],"class_list":["post-580584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-9055","tag-behind","tag-break","tag-calming","tag-can","tag-down","tag-drawing","tag-effect","tag-entertainment","tag-experts","tag-have","tag-how","tag-minutes","tag-nervous","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-paper","tag-pencil","tag-putting","tag-reset","tag-science","tag-such","tag-system","tag-your"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}