This week, let’s talk about stress. Something that I’m sure most of us wrestle with on a daily basis.
You probably know that high levels of stress aren’t good for you (and who even likes FEELING stressed?), but did you know how many ways stress can negatively affect your life? Numerous physical and emotional disorders are linked to stress including:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Heart attacks
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- Increased susceptibility to infections
- GERD
- IBS
Additionally, stress directly affects skin:
- Rashes
- Hives
- Atopic Dermatitis
In fact, just thinking about how stressed you are, can CAUSE more stress. Everyday, we have about 60,000 thoughts. 95% of those are the same thoughts repeated. So if your thinking about how stressed you are, that creates quite a nasty feedback loop.
So, how can art help with that? Read on!
Science may have the answer. A study from the University of Westminster revealed that stress levels decreased after a jaunt to the art gallery on their lunchtime.
35 minutes of wandering not only left the participants FEELING less stressed, they had lower levels of cortisol, which is the hormone your body produces when it’s stressed out.
One can surmise that any sort of art viewing is good for you. But let’s take it to the next level.
Brain scans during an experiment from University College London reveal the increase of blood flow to one part of the brain increased each time the participant was shown a piece of art they liked, and the increase was proportionate to how much that participant liked the piece.
As Professor Semir Zeki (the researcher in charge of conducting the experiment) said: “What we are doing is giving scientific truth to what has been known for a long time – that beautiful paintings makes us feel much better.”
We can help. Dating back to the earliest years of our company we have provided artwork to commercial offices. We have a full line of art products with thousands of pieces to choose from. We can even come to your office – with our art consultant – and design and install all of the artwork you need to make your office attractive and your employees feel better and …….less stressed. Give us a call we’re here to help.
