Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023 BARNES & NOBLE'S BEST SCIENCE & NATURE BOOKS OF 2023 The arts can deliver potent, accessible and proven solutions for the wellbeing of everyone. In this book, Magsamen and Ross offer compelling research that shows how engaging in an art project - from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture and more - for as little as forty-five minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years. Your Brain on Art is an authoritative guide to how neuroaesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities and mend an aching planet. Susan Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she is a faculty member. She is also the co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint. Susan works with both the p