By Michael G. Williams
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
For the last decade, Dr. Gene Cohen has been a pioneer in studying the link between creativity and its effect on the way the human brain ages.
In 2000, he wrote the first book on the subject called The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life.
“The staff at the National Endowment for the Arts read it and realized that, with all of the projects that they had supported in terms of community-based art programs for older adults, nobody had ever evaluated these programs for things such as health measures,” says Cohen, who serves as director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
“So they asked me if I would design a multi-site national study looking at the impact of these programs through broader measures.”
First of its kind
It was the first study of its kind evaluating the effect that creative activity had on physical and mental health. It involved two groups of participants, all between the ages of 65 and 103, in Washington, D.C., New York, and San Francisco.
As Cohen explains, both groups were completely comparable in just about every way, matched in terms of age range and overall health at the beginning of the study. Only one group, however, would engage in creative pursuits that included everything from painting and writing to music and storytelling.
Significant differences
And just one year into the study, differences between the two groups became apparent. “With an average age of 80, most people would be happy to see less of a decline than ordinarily expected, but in fact, we noticed several areas of actual improvement for those participating in the art programs,” Cohen says.