Our lives are more stressful than ever. Sometimes we may not even realize that we are dealing with moderate to severe forms of anxiety, let alone think about how to battle it. It can be difficult to jump into traditional therapy or medication. Art therapy such as drawing for anxiety is an easy way to start the process of improving your mental health.
Drawing for Anxiety: The Facts
Art therapy can relieve stress and anxiety, and help you wind down and relax by preoccupying your mind with drawing, colouring, painting, and sculpting. Non-verbal forms of art are a great way to express difficult thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Anxiety drawing is effective due its creative control, in a stressful situation that may be out of your control, drawing for anxiety is something in your own control. Many registered therapists use art therapy with their patients as well.
A study from 2007 published in the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association found that people who drew art vs people who sorted through art after listing their current anxieties, reported a significant improvement in their well-being and negative moods. Drawing for anxiety increases mindfulness, can be a welcomed distraction from a stressful situation, and proves relaxing.
Methods of Anxiety Drawing
There is no one sure fire method you should try when approaching anxiety drawing. Different art forms work for different people, and it can be helpful to try as many as you’d like in order to find the perfect reliever for you. Here are some examples:
- Doodling: whether it be in a sketchbook or a simple notebook, sticky note, and even on your phone or tablet; simple doodles and scribbling can be a relaxing way to ease your state of mind.
- Drawing or Sketching: you don’t have to consider yourself an artist to draw and sketch, nor do you need to be any good at it. Drawing something you see or like, or based on a prompt can be done by anyone.
- Coloring: Research has shown that colouring books are a great form of relaxation and can help relieve stress and anxiety.
The Bigger Picture
If you have constant feelings of anxiety, stress, or overwhelm, it is beneficial to keep track of your stress levels and symptoms of stress and anxiety. This can include tracking your vital signs such as heart rate, heart rate variability, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure. These key vital signs are closely related to stress, and seeing physical manifestations of your stress can help you identify when you need to take a step back and evaluate the way you manage it.
veyetals, a wellness app developed by MarkiTech (Markitech.AI ™), in collaboration with Queen’s University Computer, Vision and AI Lab, uses a real-time health monitoring system to measure various biomarkers (such as heart rate and heart rate variability, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, mental stress, blood pressure, and temperature) within 90-95% accuracy levels using your smartphone’s camera. veyetals is easy to access, use, and track information on, making healthcare more accessible to at-risk populations without the need for costly medical devices.
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Our cloud based, lightweight API allows veyetals to be integrated with the healthcare apps and platforms that matter to you most. The app is interoperable with other healthcare management systems including, but not limited to, SenSights.AI. veyetals drives information sharing with other health management solutions and further enhances the continuum of patient care.
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Credits: Healthline, AATA
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