Drawing is an activity that can definitely make you calmer, especially in situations when you want some peace and quiet. However, many times, drawing has also been related to the improvement of people’s mental skills, meaning it is thought that it can improve the levels of intelligence in people. So, does drawing really make you smarter, and in what ways is that to be achieved?
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According to research, it is believed that drawing can improve a person’s mental abilities (i.e., it causes the growth of brain cells). Drawing adds synapses to the brain’s transmitters, so that information stored by the brain becomes stronger and more accessible.
This article would be beneficial and informative to those who want to learn more about the advantages of drawing and how it can make a person smarter. I have discussed the reasons why drawing can affect the brain cells, and in what way drawing causes the brain to function in a different way. Therefore, you will read everything related to drawing and the cognitive function of the human body.
Table of Contents
- 1 How Does Drawing Affect Your Mental Health And Intelligence?
- 2 What Are Some Other Advantages Of Drawing?
- 3 Drawing is Beneficial Even if You Can’t Draw
- 4 Conclusion
- 5 More From Artistry Found
How Does Drawing Affect Your Mental Health And Intelligence?
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Drawing is commonly related to naturally talented people with the creative skill for producing different kinds of visual art on paper. Drawing is known to help develop the brain in certain ways, which is why drawing is recommended for children at an early age.
The first activity that children experience early in their development is drawing, and this is because drawing affects improvement in the cognitive function of the human mind and body.
In addition, drawing is also a beneficial activity when it comes to calming the nervous system, especially in people who are dealing with anxiety and depression. In other words, drawing can help in the improvement of brain function in many ways, and it definitely affects human intelligence.
This means that drawing can actually make you smarter since it causes the growth of brain cells, and it can make the brain stronger, more accessible, and thus more intelligent.
Below, I have included some points that prove that drawing can make you smarter and the ways in which drawing affects brain activity, growth, and function.
Drawing Activates Brain Cells
Drawing tends to effectively hit your brain in the manner to work more and to improve faster. This means that people who draw professionally or in their free time have brain cells that work more actively most of the time.
So, the saying “Drawing is intelligent” has a literal meaning, i.e., those who draw can become quite smarter.
Many people believe that innate talent is the main predeterminer for intelligence. However, just engaging in some drawing is actually the activity that can improve your brain cells and make them more active.
This means that when you are drawing, you are activating the right hemisphere of your brain, i.e. the one that is responsible for imagination and creativity. Therefore, when you draw, the capacity of your brain develops more than when you are doing some other regular task.
Drawing Improves Memory
Another thing that drawing can affect is a better memory span. In other words, drawing activates the brain, i.e. the brain cells causing them to grow in capacity, but also making them better at remembering stuff. In fact, as the brain cells grow, they also multiply, meaning new brain cells are constantly being created.
Drawing helps in making the brain more powerful, making it ready to store new information without an issue. What is more, since this data is scientifically proven, many doctors have been using drawing as an aid for Alzheimer’s patients since it can help them access their visual memory.
Using drawing as a medical aid has really shown success since many patients who draw have shown increases in memory skills and have improved memory test scores.
Drawing Helps You Focus
You cannot be smart if you are not focused enough on things that happen around you. You need to have a good eye for observation, so you can spot everything that changes its shape and form in your surroundings. You might have the cognitive ability to have sharp focus naturally, but it has been proven that people who draw have a better capacity for focusing on certain things.
For artists, it is crucial to have a good ability to focus and to pay attention to details since they usually draw from experience. All of the greatest artists have an amazing focal capability since they tend to draw on a daily basis.
Drawing Makes You Better At Expressing Yourself
An intelligent and smart person knows the right ways for expressing themselves, especially when it comes to personal emotions and feelings. Through drawing it becomes easier to say how you feel about a certain situation or thing. Not everyone can express themselves well, especially when specific and complex feelings are involved.
Drawing can especially help shy or introverted people since they have difficulty expressing themselves. They learn how to become better at communicating by first expressing their feelings on paper.
Drawing Improves Self-esteem
Self-esteem is also closely connected to intelligence, meaning that if a person has increased levels of self-esteem, they will probably show increased levels of intelligence. Drawing can really act as a booster to confidence, so you might develop a sense of higher achievement.
The human brain works the same both for kids and adults, meaning that if a person takes pride and feels confident about something they’ve drawn, it’s beneficial to their intelligence and well-being no matter what age they are.
What Are Some Other Advantages Of Drawing?
Besides making you smarter, drawing can really help in other fields of human development. As I mentioned before, drawing is scientifically proven to be helpful when it comes to developing physical parts of the brain, in addition to increasing intelligence. However, there are other areas where drawing can really help.
As I stated before, it helps people with Alzheimer’s disease, but it can also help when it comes to mental health issues. Nowadays, people have been struggling a lot with mental health disorders, but drawing has proven to be very helpful and is often recommended to people who have struggled with issues, such as anxiety or depression.
Drawing Reduces Anxiety
Physiatrists, as well as other types of doctors, have been recommending drawing on a daily basis as a way of dealing with stress and anxiety. According to research, drawing can really help in calming oneself in a stressful situation. This is because the brain relaxes when it is engaged in a creative activity, and therefore can significantly reduce the levels of anxiety.
Drawing is especially recommended to students going through a stressful examination period or people leading really fast and busy lives. It is proven to help with relaxation, and for some people, is the most effective therapy.
This type of art therapy activates creative thinking, reducing stress and offering many mental health benefits.
Drawing Makes You Happier
Everything that involves creative skills and imagination produces happier and more content feelings in a person. When you are engaged in a creative task, such as drawing, your mind relates itself to happier emotions, which usually improve one’s mood and levels of satisfaction in a certain period of the day.
For instance, according to a study, many people have reported happier thoughts after regular hours of drawing each day or week.
Drawing Helps With Depression
People who are in a certain depressed mood are advised to pick up drawing, even if they are not such huge fans of these kinds of creative tasks. When the brain is focused on producing something, the person feels that their contribution might have a certain meaning to the community in which they live.
Depression is often reduced when a particular person starts producing something meaningful.
Regular drawing can help teenagers and adolescents who are struggling with depression. That said, it can also help adults, even if they have never tried drawing before.
Drawing Increases Hand Eye Coordination
The benefits of regular drawing aren’t limited to only mental benefits. Drawing also increases a drawer’s hand-eye coordination. Drawing requires a connection between what the eyes see and the hand holding the drawing instrument.
These fine motor skills are crucial to the drawing process and can be strengthened over time with repetition. This is why it is important to draw on a regular basis.
Drawing is Beneficial Even if You Can’t Draw
To receive the benefits of drawing, it is not necessary that the drawer has any great skill. So while creating an illustrative masterpiece may be possible for some, it isn’t required to receive the cognitive benefits.
Regular doodling or drawing to the best of your ability will still provide the intended benefits of increased intelligence and mental well-being. Even just creating doodles in your spare time can increase your overall well-being.
See how drawing can create stronger critical thinking skills in this video below:
Conclusion
As you can see, drawing cannot only make you smarter, but it can also improve your daily performance in regular tasks.
It provides a way of allowing the brain to develop more in the field of intelligence, so this kind of hobby is beneficial to everyone, no matter if you’re a professional artist, hobbyist, or just a beginner.
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