Creativity and Fitness Can Improve Your Brain

Over the years, I have taught art to students at every age level from pre-school to older adults. I love witnessing their creativity and excitement over their accomplishments. I especially like seeing the joy that art brings into their lives.

For older people, creativity provides a goal, a reason to get up in the morning and go out to an art class or head to an easel or art wall inside their own homes. The creative activity can take the form of painting, sculpture, pottery, jewelry and more. Crocheting and knitting are art-crafting endeavors enjoyed by people of all ages, especially older ones. Some studies show that crafting provides a large benefit but not quite as much as painting.

My mother loved to crochet. She would sit for hours crocheting colorful pieces that she later put together in afghans to give as gifts. Although she did not grow up in a time when physical fitness was stressed as it now is, she kept her brain healthy with the bright strands of yarn dancing on her needle.

A recent syndicated article by Leslie Mann, Tribune Newspapers, describes studies that show the value of doing artwork for people in "their middle and old ages". One Mayo Clinic study found that those who created art during those later years were "73 percent less likely to develop MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment)". (MCI is a problem that can lead to dementia.)

Because people are living longer, the 85-plus age is a fast-growing population segment. It's a group of people who can be inspired because of creative potential or they can be led into depression by those who do not understand their needs for purpose in life.

Recently, I was with a group of older people and found their main topics of conversation were about the drugs they take to control their physical ailments. My doctor wants to prescribe more drugs and is disgruntled because I believe our nation is over-medicated in many instances.

If people are encouraged to take more art classes and more art workshops, I believe they will be happier. They will have less reason for depression. They will need fewer drugs.

Artist Kendra Wadsworth inspires creativity with her abstract mixed media

Coloring books for adults and zentangles (drawing structured patterns) are new interests in our society. These are different forms of art that I suspect can help improve our brain health.

I enjoyed Mann's article which was about a study published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Along with physical fitness, creativity can help us grow happier. We should promote that path.

Creativity Focus - What Makes You Lose It?

As an art teacher for more than 360 elementary school children, I recognize the importance of focus for creative people. That’s why for the past several years I have used a little ritual with my students when they first enter the classroom.

I have the children close their eyes, take a long, silent breath and “see” in their minds a color, shape, or something else that may relate to the day’s project. I ask them to focus on that image, take another long, silent breath, then open their eyes. My intention is for them to forget about the games they’ve been playing outdoors or the work they’ve been doing in their classroom and just let their imaginations take over to see in their minds what they wish to create.

Many things can cause a creative person to lose focus. I hear often about those who have “writer’s block.” I’ve never had that problem. Instead, I have focus block. Especially during baseball season.

When I was a small child, I followed and loved the St. Louis Cardinals. In late evening, my grandmother and I tuned into KMOX, the voice of St. Louis, on our radio, and we listened to all the games. It was my passion, my focus. Although my mother scolded me for being a baseball fanatic, I never gave up following the Cardinals until I had children of my own to raise. Then, when Mark McGwire had the memorable season during which he hit 70 home runs and broke the long-standing home run record, I began following the Cardinals again. Like many other people, McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought me back to baseball. This year, part of the excitement of spring training for me and many others was getting the chance to meet Mark McGwire, the Cardinals new hitting coach.

Now I plan in March of each year to take a trip to Jupiter, FL for St. Louis Cardinals spring training. While there, we get to visit with the players and watch them train and play games at beautiful Roger Dean Stadium. From that moment on until late October (in the years when they make the play-offs), I am hooked. Now, instead of listening to the radio, I follow the Cardinals by watching all their games on satellite TV.

For almost eight months each year, I lose my writing and my artistic focus. I still write and paint during those months, but I plan my time around the games. In fact, I am so enthralled with baseball that when we go on vacation, the first thing I look for is a good sports bar where I can watch live Cardinal games!

Probably not many other writers and artists share my baseball passion, but I suspect there are other things that cause them to lose focus. Do you have a vice or passion that alters your creative time? I would love to know more about the creative focus of other writers and artists.