Can Art Improve Your Health?
It’s not news to most of us that our environment can
have an impact on our mood. A cloudy day. Working in a
cubicle farm. Growing up in poverty.
But can it also impact our health? There’s a growing
[5] body of research that suggests the beneficial effects of
picking and hanging the “right” artwork in hospitals, to
help healing and improve patients’ mood:
Upali Nanda, who has a doctorate in architecture with
a specialization in health-care systems and design, says
[10] scientific studies show that art can aid in the recovery of
patients, shorten hospital stays and help manage pain.
But she says it has to be the right art – vivid paintings of
landscapes, friendly faces and familiar objects can lower
blood pressure and heart rate, while abstract pictures can
[15] have the opposite effect.
Nanda and two university professors did a study at
Houston’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital using two types
of art. In the first group were images that had been proved
to calm patients, including green landscapes, water
[20] scenes, cultural artifacts and emotionally expressive
pictures of people. The second group contained abstract
pieces. When asked which they preferred, most patients
chose images from the first group.
Not surprising, since that opinion reflects most
[25] people’s opinion about those two groups of artwork in the
real world. Ambiguous artwork, such as many abstract
paintings, provokes anxiety in many people, while familiar
scenes of people and the outdoors are more serene
and something most people can identify with. The article
[30] theorizes that people feel more at ease with paintings
of trees, flowers and fields, allowing them to project their
own feelings of uneasiness or anxiety onto them.
Can you imagine how simple and inexpensive
making hospitals look, well, hospitable is, compared
[35] to all the fancy imaging equipment and latest
micro-surgery tools? And yet, these components can be
just as important to a patient’s recovery as taking the right
pills at the right time. Sterile white hallways might make
for a clean environment, but it does nothing for the needs
[40] of being human in such places. After all, hospitals aren’t
technology clean-rooms — they are where we treat
people. And people are emotional and social creatures
who value the familiar.
Of course artwork isn’t going to heal anybody’s
[45] wounds, but it can help speed the healing process
after-the-fact.
GROHOL, J. (2009). PodeArt melhorar sua saúde? Psych Central. Disponível em: http:// psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/09/01/canartmelhorarseuhealth/. Acesso em: 10 out. 2014.
According to Upali Nanda, the wrong kind of artwork to be hung in a hospital is the one depicting images of
