---
title: "Want to reduce depression, improve your immunity or delay ageing? Being creative can help with that."
description: "Based on this Guardian article: “Art could save your life! Five creative ways to make 2026 happier, healthier and more hopeful” (Daisy Fancourt) The article’s core claim is simple: creativity isn’t a..."
url: https://gabrielaholcer.com/want-to-reduce-depression-improve-your-immunity-or-delay-ageing-being-creative-can-help-with-that/
date: 2026-01-27
modified: 2026-01-27
author: "admin"
image: https://gabrielaholcer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/kurz-krajinomalba-gabriela-holcer-3-Large-1.jpg
categories: ["Blog"]
tags: ["creativity", "mental health"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Want to reduce depression, improve your immunity or delay ageing? Being creative can help with that.

Based on this Guardian article: [“Art could save your life! Five creative ways to make 2026 happier, healthier and more hopeful” (Daisy Fancourt)](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jan/07/art-could-save-your-life-creative-ways-make-2026-happier-healthier)

The article’s core claim is simple: **creativity isn’t a luxury—it’s a legitimate health tool**. We tend to default to the usual “new year, new me” routines (gym, diets, meditation), but the piece argues that engaging with the arts has a surprisingly wide evidence base for improving both mental and physical health.

## What the evidence says (in plain terms)

- Regular arts engagement is linked with reduced symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress.
- It can work preventatively too: people who regularly attend cultural events show a much lower risk of developing depression (even after accounting for lifestyle and demographics).
- Arts activities stimulate reward/pleasure networks (dopamine), support emotional regulation, and meet core psychological needs like autonomy and mastery.
- Over time, creativity can strengthen brain connectivity, build “cognitive reserve,” and is associated with slower cognitive decline and lower dementia risk.
- It also affects the body: singing can train respiratory muscles, dance can improve blood pressure/glucose more than equivalent non-creative exercise, and arts engagement is linked to immune and inflammation benefits.

The author is also careful to say: the arts aren’t a magical cure-all.** But overall, the takeaway is that creative habits can meaningfully improve your “healthspan,” not just your mood.**

## 5 practical ways to use creativity

1. **Find your creative pick-me-up.** Use music and books intentionally to shift mood. Replace doomscrolling with a novel. Replace the alarm with a song you actually listen to. The point is “active” engagement—not background noise while you dissociate.
2. **Choose a new creative hobby.** Even 30–60 minutes once a week can show wellbeing improvements in about six weeks. Pick based on what you’re missing: control (drawing/writing/clay), mastery (crochet, ukulele), or community (classes/groups).
   - How about trying one of my [Creative courses or workshops](https://gabrielaholcer.com/painting-courses/)?
3. **Go to an exhibition—and actually look.** Most people spend seconds per artwork. Meaningful engagement takes minutes: look, react, think, look again. Better to deeply experience a few pieces than rush through everything.
4. **Use rhythm to enhance your workouts.** Music syncs movement, breathing, and heart rate to the beat—and can make you go harder for longer while dulling fatigue signals. (The article even frames it as a “legal performance-enhancing drug.”)
5. **Indulge in make-believe.** Adults treat play as childish—wrong move. Imagination builds mental flexibility and resilience. Try a murder-mystery night, cosplay, festivals, or anything that lets you step into a different role/world.

![](https://gabrielaholcer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/kurz-portret-gabriela-holcer-3-Large-796x1024.jpg)

If you did zero minutes of active arts engagement yesterday, you’re in the majority. The article’s push is to stop treating creativity as optional.

Small, consistent doses—chosen for enjoyment, not “self-improvement flex”—can stack up into real mental and physical benefits. My [creative courses or workshops](https://gabrielaholcer.com/painting-courses/) could help with that.