The Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) recently commissioned research to quantify the impact of arts and heritage on physical and mental wellbeing, as well as the monetary value of these benefits.
The research, which analysed data collected from 13 groups of people, was undertaken by Frontier Economics and University College London-based World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Arts and Health and was the first of its kind in the UK. It confirmed speculation that consumption of culture does in fact have a positive impact on quality of life.
Although it may seem obvious that visiting the West End, attending a ballet or participating in a local workshop, class or celebration would be good for the soul, you might be surprised to discover some of the more significant benefits found by researchers. For example, it was found that engaging with cultural activity just once per month could contribute to alleviating pain, frailty, depression and dependence on medication.
Key findings included:
According to WHO Centre Director and Head of the UCL Social biobehavioural Research Group Professor Daisy Fancourt said the research had proven that “arts engagement has diverse and tangible effects on health, from supporting cognitive development and protecting against cognitive decline, to reducing symptoms of mental illness and enhancing wellbeing, reducing pain and stress, via the same neurological and physiological pathways activated by medication, reducing loneliness, and maintaining physical functioning, thereby reducing frailty and age-related physical decline.
“Arts engagement can help to reduce unnecessary pressure on health services, through helping individuals to manage their own health more proactively, such as staying physically active and socially engaged, and reducing the need for inpatient hospital and nursing home stays.”
She added that the findings “suggest that not only could further arts investment be valuable for individuals and the health service as part of a preventative health agenda, but also any cuts to arts funding or provision have to be considered a public health risk with individual and societal economic ramifications”.
Co-author of the research Matthew Bell of Frontier Economics said, “Engagement with performance-based art such as plays, musicals and ballet, and particularly participation in music, is linked to reductions in depression and in pain and improved quality of life.
“We can value those impacts in terms of reduced costs to the NHS, increased productivity at work and improved quality of life.”
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