115. Art as a Neurological Product (Part III)

Making art is a biological process. 

This is the third episode in a series about the biology of making art, and the science that informs how and why we are creating. 

Today we're wrapping up this three part series on the biology and the science of why we're so compelled to make art, and why it feels so good. And let's address  why you might be avoiding taking action to do the things that you know will help you feel good. 

Transcript

Making art is a biological process. This is the third episode in a series about the biology of making art, and the science that informs how and why we are creating. Welcome in to the Modern Creative Woman podcast. I'm Doctor Amy Backos, your hostess, and I'm delighted that you're here. If you're a new listener, welcome in. And if you've been here with me for a while, I am so happy that you're here on this audio creativity journey. 

Today we're wrapping up this three part series on the biology and the science of why we're so compelled to make art, why it feels so good. And I want to talk a little bit about why you might be avoiding taking action to do the things that you know will help you feel good. Let's get into this. Let's get this started. As you remember from the last two episodes, we've been talking about the biology of art and some of the things that happen in your brain as it relates to creativity. The main focus that I want you to remember is that repetitive movements are a huge part of this mindfulness flow, meditation, self-expression, problem solving, feeling good, and feeling energized. All of those are a direct result of engaging in creativity. We've talked about dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and today we're going to get into endorphins. Those are the painkillers the natural way of regulating pain in the body. Remember serotonin helps stave off depression gives us that feeling of euphoria. It comes from antidepressants working out sunlight, certain foods. Dopamine is that pathway to pleasure that can give us the intense feeling of reward. We can get it from sex shopping, smelling those delicious cookies. It's also related to reinforcement in shaping our behavior, as we're trying to make changes in our lives. And dopamine is increased through, of course, creativity, meditation and flow, and foods that are high in trypsin. Chicken. Dairy. Avocado, banana, pumpkin, sesame seed, and soy. You remember oxytocin. The love hormone promotes bonding, lowers anxiety. We get it through touch art, music, exercise. Let's get into the endorphins here. These are your brain's natural pain reliever, and they reduce stress. It gives you that feeling of well-being. I described it last time as the subjective feeling of well-being. And that's the research term. Are you feeling subjectively happy? Doesn't matter what's happening around you. Can you feel a sense of well-being? And that's a real strength. Back to neuropsychology class. The endorphins are released by your hypothalamus and your pituitary gland, and they're in response to pain or to stress. What's interesting to me is there's 20 types of endorphins. Our bodies are very complex and have a different endorphin for different needs in the body. But what I found in the literature is that the best studied of these endorphins is called beta endorphin. And this is the one that I know you've heard of. It's associated with the runner's high, and that's the feeling of wanting to run again. Or running in is hard. And then it starts to feel easier and running to the point where it feels pleasurable with the urge to run again. Now you don't have to be a runner to get your endorphins. We get endorphins when we laugh, when we fall in love, have sex, or even eat a delicious meal. So how do you increase your endorphins? The science says that we need to exercise at a moderately intense pace. It means going for a walk for 20 minutes at a brisk pace, going for longer, at a slower pace. Don't want to run. Don't want to walk. There's other options. Acupuncture and acupressure are designed specifically to release endorphins. There are acupressure points that are tapping into the specific made endorphins. Remember I mentioned meditation and flow. In that process, you have a release of endorphins. I already mentioned sex playing music, laughter. Do you know about this one? Ultraviolet light. Now, ultraviolet light is stimulating the release of these beta endorphins in the skin. There's a whole line of research around serotonin and light as well. And so the the treatment of light boxes for seasonal affective disorder is pretty strong. The research is showing that a full spectrum bulb And 20 minutes in front of a lightbox in the morning. Increases serotonin and beta endorphins. When you think of creativity and art making, it is there for our survival, our self-expression, of course, for love and for advancing societies. Artists are able to reflect on politics, what's happening in the world, and how things are changing. Artists also promote change through their work. So when you think about making art and being creative, how do you feel in your body, in your mind, in your emotions? This leads me to reflect on avoidance of things that help us feel better. The process of avoidance is something that we have to overcome and master. And when I think of avoidance, it's about avoiding, controlling or escaping uncomfortable experiences. And by that I mean uncomfortable thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. As humans will work very hard to avoid feeling our own discomfort. And much of the time, people will work really hard to push it away in a short term solution. And I've mentioned in this series addiction Doomscrolling on your phone, we can avoid uncomfortable emotions through even healthy things like exercise. Anything in the world can become an avoidance strategy. Some people overwork. Some people overeat. Some people under eat. Some people over exercise spend all their time with their nose in a book. Anything you love to do could become an avoidance strategy. Many people fear that approaching their uncomfortable feelings will make it worse. If they start crying, they'll never stop crying. And I want to remind you that all of our avoidance strategies is like slapping a Band-Aid on an infected wound. The more we avoid uncomfortable feelings, the more they fester. The more we avoid uncomfortable feelings, the more we also have to squash down the good feelings. It's impossible to just suppress our discomfort without compromising our ability to feel good in other areas. Avoidance shows up in that revenge procrastination, where people are sad and frustrated that they worked all day in a. Situation they maybe didn't like, drove in a lot of traffic and they feel like their time was wasted in some situation and they procrastinate going to bed because they're trying to, like, gain back a little bit of time for themselves, when in fact, what would help them feel better is going to bed. So we will work against our own self-interest in a whole plethora of ways, and I want to help you overcome that urge, or that tendency to look for a short term solution to not Band-Aid your emotions, but rather let the wound air out and take care of it. We need to put ointment and clean out a cut before we put a Band-Aid on it. So when we think about being creative, it takes a little bit of time. Maybe you have to set up your art supplies. Maybe it doesn't always feel good when you're making it. You might get frustrated making art. You might become more aware of self-critical thoughts. And so many people quit making art around age 12 because they don't want to feel uncomfortable anymore. But if you're willing to engage with art, it is the healing that's necessary. It is the long term investment in your future wellbeing. If you take a little time every day to create something, you'll start to notice you want to do it more because it feels good, you know? Do you need to watch another TV show? Do you need to scroll more on social media? Will those things nourish you in a healthy way? I don't think either of those things can provide you the nourishment and the mental wellbeing that art can. I hope these last three episodes have given you increased knowledge, and for some of you, increased knowledge is enough to make a change. You will feel motivated to take action. And for other people, knowledge isn't necessarily enough to convince. Nothing wrong with either. I want to encourage you to run some experiments. See how you feel before and after making art. Give it a try. You can commit to three days in a row and document it. You know, schedule it in your calendar. Write how you feel about it and commit to just three days. There's no hurry. Just do a little something for three days in a row, and then message me and let me know what that feels like. If you need a little more motivation, have an accountability partner. Find another woman who wants to do the same thing and send each other the pictures. You can send me your pictures of three days in a row, and I will reciprocate and send you what I'm making. We're in a situation and place and time that art has become increasingly important. Self-expression and being yourself when others want you to be homogenous. And the same is a radical act. And I'm here to encourage you to do that and take really good care of yourself and your community through creative process. It's the kind of nourishment that allows us to sustain advocacy work, to keep helping friends and family and our neighbors. And making art has a huge impact on ourselves and the people who see it. You don't ever have to show your art to anyone. You might be the only one who sees it, and that's okay too. I did a little volunteer project this week and. It's with the relay for life the American Cancer Society puts on to raise funds for cancer research. And I completed these small, 20 small art projects. And they will sell these artistically designed luminaries to put candles in for the relay race. It's a small contribution, but what it did for me was connect me to something with greater meaning and purpose than myself. Allow me to be of service to my neighbors. Helped give me hope because I know art has a powerful impact, and I know that there are things that I can do to help my community. It gave me a lot of hours of meditative flow, just relaxing and creating the art and the luminaries. I think if we can combine some art with community engagement right now, that gives us our best chance for sustaining hope for the future. Send me your art. You can send me a message. There's a link in the show notes. Find me over on Instagram at Doctor Amy Bakos and I am always happy to hear from you. I really, truly am. Have a wonderful rest of your week. Now that you know about how to use your creativity, what will you create? Want more? Subscribe to the Modern Creative Woman digital magazine. It's absolutely free and it comes out once a month. And I know you can get a lot out of the podcast and the digital magazine. Yet when you're ready to take it to the next level, I want you to know you have options inside the membership. And if you're interested in a private consultation, please feel free to book a call with me. Even if you just have some questions, go ahead and book a call. My contact is in the show notes and you can always message me on Instagram. Do come find me in the modern creative Woman on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest at Doctor Amy Backus. If you like what you're hearing on the Modern Creative Woman podcast, I want to give you the scoop on how you can support the podcast. You can be an ambassador and share the podcast link with three of your friends. You can be a community supporter by leaving a five star review. If you think it's worth the five stars, and you can become a Gold Star supporter for as little as $3 a month. All those links are in the show notes. Remember to grab your free copy of the 21 Day Gratitude Challenge. The link is in the show notes and you can find it at ModernCreativeWoman.com. Have a wonderful week and I cannot wait to talk with you in the next episode.