According to health experts, integrating art with health programs speeds up healing among patients. Today, art in a hospital setting is no longer put in place for decorative purposes. According to various studies, some art pieces can reduce the number of days patients spend in the hospital. Also, it can lower blood pressure and heart rate, not to mention that it can reduce pain medication intake. In short, art in healthcare distracts patients indirectly or directly. So, applying art in the healthcare environment has several positive effects that we’ve covered below;
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Benefits of Health Art Program
Speeds up the recovery rate
Healthcare art has multiple benefits in that it helps reduce stress and anxiety among patients. It also helps depression patients get back to track sooner and improves the mental state of patients who have a mental illness. If you or your loved one is admitted to a hospital that has invested in artwork, your length of stay may be reduced as some artwork speeds up the healing process.
Health art helps hospital staff and visitors
Art has positive effects on patients, hospital visitors, and staff. Note that a hospital setting stresses families and friends left behind to wait for news about their loved ones. And at times, nurses experience stress when dealing with patients. It’s even worse when a patient they hoped would recover passes on. But introducing some art mediums in the hospital helps reduce anxiety and stress. Also, art pieces help increase the solution in the waiting rooms, which goes a long way in easing tension.
Health art is a positive distraction
As earlier noted, people who spend hours on hospital seats awaiting their loved one’s results encounter an array of emotions. Such an experience increases stress and anxiety. But an eye-catching visual art can serve as a positive distraction. It triggers positive feelings, attracts attention, and reduces stress. According to the experts, a typical health facility lacks any form of positive distraction.
Instead, patients, staff, and people around can feel the tension such an environment creates. It’s like always anticipating the worst news as the patients concentrate on their pain, worries, and fears. All these factors increase stress levels. But with great art on the wall, one’s attention is diverted to something else, which makes all the difference.
Impact of colors on emotions
A part of the literature emphasizes the positive effects of different colors on one’s emotions. And visual arts use colors that can act as stimuli. Essentially, color stimuli are featured by wavelength, vividness, and illumination. Colors that trigger pleasure with low arousal enhance calmness, while those that cause displeasure and high arousal levels provoke anxiety. The health experts confirm that most patients can spend hours glued to a piece of art since they involve using natural colors such as green and more. Color has a positive impact on our emotions.
Finally, art is powerful and can relieve pain in suffering clients, lessening the burden of illness. Also, it’s a positive distraction as it diverts the attention of people waiting for their loved ones to be treated.