Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC)

Adult Learning

According to Dr. Gene Cohen, author of The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life (2000) and the leading authorities on creativity and aging, creativity plays an important role in healthy aging. Preliminary findings in Cohen’s 2000 national study indicated that seniors actively engaged in creative activities have significantly better overall mental and physical health, including fewer falls and doctor’s visits; less use of medications; fewer vision problems; less loneliness and depression; and an increased level of involvement in other activities.

Creativity is a lifelong gift and it is never too early or too late to begin exploring one’s creative self. Age often brings with it more free time, fewer family and social obligations, and a heightened sense of urgency: if not now, when?

The benefits of creativity in later life are numerous*:

  • Creativity improves mental and emotional health — creativity produces a fresh perspective, strengthens our morale, improves our sense of well-being, and makes us more emotionally resilient to life’s adversities and losses.
  • Creativity enhances our physical health. Creative expression makes us feel better and improves our outlook, which in turn provides a beneficial effect to our immune systems and general physical health.
  • Creativity enriches relationships with family and friends.
  • Creativity provides a legacy. The example you set to stay intellectually active, socially involved and creatively engaged will have a positive affect on the younger people around you.

* Excerpted from It’s Never Too Late: Creativity in Later Life by Janice Blanchard, MSPH. Learn more

Resources

Arts for the Aging

The Bethesda-based non-profit group Arts for the Aging demonstrates the transformative power of imagination for populations suffering common disabilities of age: frailty, dementia and depression. Arts for the Aging strives to nurture creativity in older people through poetry, dance, drumming, and painting in the hopes of drawing out their personalities and helping them to communicate.

Dr. Gene Cohen

Dr. Gene Cohen, the Director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University, is the author of The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life (2000) and The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain (2006) and is featured in these two videos:

  • Creativity in Later Life
  • Do Not Go Gently: This video which celebrates the lives, work and wisdom of three remarkable artists who have maintained their creative productivity well into their golden years. Their stories illustrate the role of creativity and art in contributing to a long, happy, healthy and vibrant life.

 

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