Five (arts) a Day to Keep the Doctor Away

Picture Credit Rachel Duffield 2025 Community Art Club in Bunwell, Norfolk

Art is good for you. It's been scientifically proven in a lot of studies (I've listed a few of them here) that getting creative can act as a real pick-me-up, causing psychobiological reactions in our bodies that translate into things like improved cognition, reduced inflammation, and uplifted mood.

Of course, creativity doesn't just mean arts & crafts - or even creating something you'd want to show anyone else! The process, that is, the DOING of it, is where you get the benefit and wellbeing and keep the doctor away, as the saying goes. No one else even need to know...

So here's my simple checklist of Five Arts A Day for making sure you're actively consuming the arts alongside your 5 fruit and veg - and there's one category that might surprise you.

1) Something creative that makes you move your body

Dance around the kitchen, sing along to the radio, act- even if it's only pretending to be a T-rex for your own amusement-, read aloud, paint standing up not sitting down, do some gardening, rearrange a shelf, swap posters or pictures around on your walls, take unusual photos from up on a stepping stool.

2) Something creative that makes you move your mind

Listen to a new band, that podcast you saw recommended, or a different radio station. Read a book you wouldn't normally choose, draw with your non-dominant hand, write a sentence about each of your senses, close your eyes for two minutes then write down everything you heard (outside if possible). Decide on your own Desert Island Discs or top three cartoon characters/pictures/buildings/tv show/anything you choose.

3) Something creative that connects you to people

Make a collage of people you love, pick some flowers for a neighbour, bake a cake and share it with a friend, write a note telling someone all the reasons you think they're great. make an old fashioned photo album in a scrapbook, draw or paint how you feel about a special someone, play an instrument with a group.

4) Something creative that gives you peace and joy

Join that painting class, sew that patchwork cushion, write that song. Take a moment to stare at the sky and see what pictures the clouds make, visit a gallery, listen to special and familiar music, doodle aimlessly with colours, plant seeds, start a journal, cook something YOU really like to eat.

5) Something creative that is also passive

Yep, this is the surprise: passive creativity counts too, as long as it's live action! Weirdly, going to the cinema also has positive effects on health, but not watching TV, apparently, because that just puts your brain in an unhelpful 'alert but unfocused' state.

You could... visit the cinema to watch a film, go to the theatre, watch a busker on a street corner for three minutes (that's about one song and still counts even if they are dreadful) attend a community show, listen to a live band, see a live comedian, find a free show in a park.

So there's a start.

If you're like me, eating those five-a-day of fruit and veg doesn't always happen, but the aim is there.

Five Arts a Day To Keep The Doctor Away is also something to aim towards; an ASPIRATION, if you like - and I hope all these suggestions will provide you with ample INSPIRATION.

And as a final gift, to supersize the benefits of creativity on your health and wellbeing, there are two easy tricks: firstly, try to do it away from a screen and secondly,do it in company with other people. But most importantly, just do it.

Magic results.

Happy creating!

Rachel Duffield is the Founder of Community Art Clubs CIC. Her podcast Art is Good For You is available on YouTube & Spotify. Her signature Art Life Journalling Course runs twice yearly and information about this, and her partnership working with and for museum, gallery and school communities can be found here on her website. You can contact Rachel on WhatsApp 07943476788, via email rachelduffieldart@gmail.com or by DM on Facebook.