The neuroscience behind creativity and art

The other day, I ventured out for a bit, (it's quite cold) and needed some watercolor card stock. There's a local store that has a decent office supply/kids/notebooks section so sometimes I can find something. I didn't, but a number of books caught my eye "Adult Coloring books".

Random book.You get the idea.

Well what took them so long? I leafed through and unfortunately they turned out to be the same as the kiddie ones except with a different cover. They're not the type of imagery that would hold my interest, but I'm overjoyed how many people are into it.

They're not that new, but the idea went mainstream as Zentangles, Zendoodles, based on Mandalas, became popular in 2004 or so. This is finally accepted as anxiety reducing, stress relief, mindfulness and all the other slightly esoteric terms attached to it.

There is reproducible science behind it:

Certain types of activities produce alpha waves in the brain. It's that deeply relaxed, yet highly focused state that psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described as "Flow" in which he investigated that Zen like state of creativity and focus.

Many activities produce that alpha wave state; meditation, watching light mindless television, knitting; anything that is focused and somewhat repetitive. Above all of them is art. Cutting a detailed collage from a magazine picture engages the brain into that alpha wave state.

Cortisol allows us to deal with stress. It has a counterintuitive action of sending the immune system into overdrive and allowing you to "thrive under pressure". However, long term exposure is neurotoxic (it can literally kill your brain cells). Especially if it lasts several months or years. It is reversible, but if high stress persists it isn't. A lot of trauma victims have what is basically a brain injury. Cortisol also interferes with neural plasticity and memory. The alternative is to form new neuronal connections and art is one of the ways to do that.

I will not get into all of the other neurochemicals involved in this reward system that calms the mind, but it goes far beyond dopamine, serotonin etc. into some that are only there very briefly.

Regular therapy can be very helpful. It depends on the individual and the experience. The problem with and why I am not a fan of talk therapy or cognitive therapy is that it reinforces and strengthens the neural network you want to get rid off and is actually contraindicated in trauma patients. (The last thing they need is to relive it-think war vets with PTSD).

When I used to teach art therapy whenever the opportunity arose, I made it very clear that it does not fix serious problems or change a situation. It might not even help someone cope with a difficult situation, but it does allow the brain to rest and recover, to "detoxify" a little while arting. What it does is teach the brain to use its natural ability to heal itself and to cause a healthy addiction for internal neurochemicals rather than rely on external medication, drugs or alcohol. It takes about three months to grow new neurons or what we observe as practicing a new activity. During the time that someone is painting or collating, other cognitive functions temporarily move into the background. The negative chatter ceases because the decision is now sap green vs Windsor green. Do I put this here or over there? The world falls away.

When someone plays an instrument they are focused and relaxed, but when they create a new song, they are usually in the Flow. But art surpasses that probably because it engages so many parts of your brain. (Visual cortex, hand eye coordination etc.)

Here's a little Zendoodle. It's a continuous line.

Which activity keeps you in the flow?