This guide will look at how art and music can help seniors physically as well as emotionally and bring joy to them in their golden years
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Doctors use art and music as recreational therapy. Recreational therapy helps seniors with specific conditions by providing leisure activities that improve their mental health. These activities have wide-ranging positive effects and impacts on a person’s physical and psychological health.
Art is a creative activity that plays a valuable part in learning throughout our lives. According to a recent study in art and music therapy, these activities can positively influence individuals as it helps people improve their emotional and physiological state.
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The activity stimulates the brain and is essential for brain exercise. These therapies are vital for patients with mental conditions, and they improve mobility, balance and coordination, motor skills, and communication.
Art therapy can help a senior restore the overall functioning of the body and mind. Meanwhile, music therapy provides seniors the ability to recall memories and feelings from their past.
What Types of Conditions Can Art Therapy and Music Therapy Work Well With?
Recreational therapy such as art, dance, music, and community projects benefits many people of all ages. Therapists use these activities to help people with the following conditions:
- Working to improve motor skills
- Rehabilitation from a surgery, illness, or injury
- Recovering from the stroke
- Being treated for cancer
- Experience anxiety or worry in a clinic center
- Learning to carry out the activities of independent daily life
- Feeling isolated or depressed
- Recovering from a substance use disorder
- Creating the ability to express thoughts and emotions
Benefits of Art Therapy for the Brain
At an early age, we encountered art as our learning partner. In school, we learn how to draw on paper, and it boosts our imagination and creativity. It helps most people to show their artistic expression and their thoughts through art.
In art therapy, therapists provide people with many options, including watercolor painting, sculpting with clay, paint by number projects, charcoal or pencil drawing, making accessories or jewelry, making cards, and group art projects.
These are fantastic ways to engage a person with a mental disorder. Some remarkable benefits of art therapy for the brain include:
Improve symptoms of depression
Therapists use art therapy as a medium to get people up and to move; it helps people stimulate their brains while engaging with numerous creative tasks.
According to the research, people with depression and other symptoms show decreased symptoms when engaging with physical activities like art, dance, or music.
More therapies have positive effects on depression and anxiety symptoms. When a person is having fun during an activity, their brain releases a chemical called endorphins. Experts believe that the improvement of a person’s mental health is due to this chemical. This chemical also helps lower stress and lighten the mood.
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Increase self-esteem
There is some research showing that art activities help increase a person’s self-confidence. People must deal with their condition. A person with low self-esteem may get discouraged easily and start doubting the treatment, affecting the person’s progress.
With art therapy, seniors will feel improved self-esteem. Therapists ask seniors to select the art program based on their interests. With a choice to choose preferable activities, people feel more self-esteem than before starting an art project.
Patients who didn’t choose any art activity didn’t experience the same growth of their self-esteem.
Strengthens social connections
Disability, injury, and surgery can restrict your interaction with people. Art is a beautiful way to connect with people around you. It provides attractive opportunities to engage with people in positive ways. Social interaction reduces the feelings of isolation of a person.
People with Dementia described feeling accepted after they participate in many community art activities and projects. They easily interact with people due to having the same interest.
These social bonds help people stay happy and get better health outcomes.
Increase strength and physical fitness
Drawing or painting needs a hand, and constant use of the hand strengthens it. Art activity, including physical exercise, helps enhance other parts of the body as well (eyes, sometimes legs). There are many activities that therapists use with art therapy to achieve balance, physical strength, and flexibility.
Improves functional independence after an injury
Many people find it difficult to do everyday routine tasks after a severe injury. Art therapy helps people to heal faster, and they can go back to their usual routine. According to a study, people who engage in art activity after a severe injury recover functional independence more quickly than the other patients.
Boost cognitive abilities
Physical activity, social engagement, and projects such as painting something from a memory of the past will stimulate the brain and improve the brain’s overall functioning.
This activity can not restore the permanently damaged brain areas but will improve and keep other parts of the brain healthy. Patients with Dementia may not remember everything from the past. However, it boosts their cognitive abilities.
How Art Therapy can Help Dementia
Art therapy stimulates the brain.
Therapists provide many art projects to people with Dementia. The projects are entertaining and for seniors, as they can express their creativity through them.
Art therapy can develop a sense of accomplishment and provide purpose in the lives of elders. There is still no cure for Dementia available, but art therapy improves the brain’s cognitive functions. Is it true that speaking two languages can delay dementia?
Art Therapy helps the person express themselves non verablly
Art therapy helps stimulate the brain and helps to express nonverbally. It can bring out negative and pent up emotions that the person may otherwise hide from others and might be causing stress and anxiety. Art therapy is very beneficial for Dementia or Alzheimer’s patients.
Art therapy creates good moments.
Therapists use art therapy to create good moments for seniors by thoroughly enjoying all the activities. Art therapy can encourage non-verbal dementia patients to smile, laugh, speak, or more. They become lively again thanks to art therapy.
Therapists ask senior preferences before starting art therapy and provide art projects and activities according to their interests. It helps boost their mood and make activity likable for them.
More benefits of art therapy
- It helps individuals relax.
- It provides a sense of control.
- It reduces depression and anxiety symptoms.
- It helps assist in socializing for isolated elders
- It helps improve cognition.
- It allows seniors to minimize boredom.
- It encourages seniors with playfulness and a sense of humor.
- It offers sensory stimulation.
How Music Can Help Dementia
Music therapy is a well-known alternative treatment for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors found that this therapy helps seniors in the mid to late stages of Dementia regain their memories from the past.
Singing boosts brain activity, and more studies show that actively singing helps improve the mood and mental faculties of dementia patient. Listening to music evokes memories; it also brings back emotions and feelings.
A therapist can provide people with Dementia with many activities associated with music. Some activities include listening to music, singing, playing instruments, or writing a song.
These different activities help improve the quality of life of people with Dementia and, similarly, mental illness. Music also allows dementia patients to interact with others.
More benefits of music therapy
- It helps people with Dementia show their feelings and thoughts to others.
- It can help individuals with the engagement of others around them.
- It can reduce social isolation.
- It promotes social interaction as well as group activities.
- It can make activities like physical exercise seamless.
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Seniors Connecting Through Art
Seniors can connect through art as it is an excellent way to express feelings, ideas, thought, and creativity. Art can serve as therapy for elders, but it is also a perfect way to approach them or each other. Therapists provide many art programs that help seniors to interact.
The feeling of isolation will reduce with the increase of social interaction during art projects. It improves mood and lowers stress when seniors socialize.
Art therapy gives senior opportunities to build positive relationships with therapists, caregivers, and doctors. It helps seniors talk about their feelings and develop a sense of control and confidence when they have Dementia or other mental illness.
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Wrap Up
Professional and skillful caregivers for art therapy and music therapy can help seniors get the quality of life that they deserve. Art therapies by professional therapists are proven to be effective in providing care services. They help improve the overall health of seniors, both mind and body.
However, traditional drawing on paper has become less popular among people. Seniors enjoy more creative activities such as crafting and sculpting with clay.
Modeling clay or dough stimulates the senses, relieves stress, and strengthens hands. These activities can benefit you or someone in your care.
We hope this article was able to inspire you to take up art and music in your old age. If you have any questions or comments on the content, please don’t hesitate to address them to us in the comments section. And if you liked the content, please share it with others who are looking for answers to similar questions.