A fascinating journey through the new science of neuroaesthetics, which demonstrates how contact with art transforms our brains, improves our mental and physical health and enables us to build stronger, more united communities.

There is a widespread belief that the arts are just entertainment, a luxury. In Your Brain Wants Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross show how activities ranging from painting and dance to expressive writing and architecture are essential to our lives.

We are on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can offer us contrasting, powerful and accessible solutions that benefit us all. Magsamen and Ross present the research that shows how, regardless of your skill level, spending just forty-five minutes on an art project can reduce cortisol, the stress hormone, and that one art experience a month can extend your life by ten years. Doctors even prescribe visits to museums to address loneliness, dementia and many other physical and mental health problems.

We will also learn that playing an instrument develops cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves that counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefits; and interactive exhibitions dissolve the boundaries between art and viewers by engaging all our senses and strengthening our memory.

Your Brain Wants Art is a guide to neuroaesthetics that, through conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Renée Fleming and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, uncovers a rich tapestry of pioneering research and case studies of people around the world using the arts to improve their lives. Through this book, we will open a portal to a new understanding of how the arts and aesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities and repair a planet in crisis.

Publisher: Paidós