If you love music or art — or just love going to the theatre or to concerts — it’s possible that you feel fitter and are less depressed than people who do not a survey of almost 50,000 individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds from a county in mid-Norway shows.
The observations are drawn from the most recent round of studies conducted for the Norwegian school of Science and Technology’s ( NTNU ) Nord-Trndelag Health Study, or HUNT, which used questionnaires, interviews, clinical examinations and the collection of urea and blood samples to assemble detailed health profiles of 48,289 participants.
“There is a positive relationship between cultural participation and self-perceived health for both ladies and men, “says Professor Jostein Holmen, a HUNT analyst who presented the findings, which havenot yet been revealed, at a Norwegian health conference in Stjrdal in late Nov. “For men, there is also a positive relationship between cultural participation and depression, in that there is less depression among men who take part in cultural activities, though this is incorrect for women.”
But what stunned the medical analyst was that these findings held true whatever the person’s socio-economic standing — whether truck driver or bank president, participating in some form in the humanities, theatre or music, as player or player, had a positive effect on that individual’s sense of fitness and health.
The new findings were controlled for socioeconomic status, lingering sickness, social capital, smoking and alcohol. However , Holmen also reported that the same sense of contentment in folks who take part in cultural activities that seemed to protect them from depression didnot have the same constructive effect on stress.
Holmen cautioned the organisation between health and cultural activities is not strong enough to enable him to say that culture actually makes folk healthy. Nevertheless, the analyst asserts the findings should challenge politicians to think differently about health. Steinar Krokstad, HUNT’s director and an associate lecturer at NTNU, agreed.
“We in the health services do not always have control over the most effective preventive tools given the range of today’s diseases. We need to increasingly focus on opportunities rather than on risk,” Krokstad recounted.
Bottom line is if you would like to feel better maybe consider something like beginner acoustic guitar lessons.. Or piano lessons or damn even the violin.
( Source : Music and the Arts Fight Depression, Promote Health )
.
