Creative and cultural activities can prevent the development of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, latest research has revealed.
A new study, commissioned by the Jameel Arts and Health Lab, has found that music, dance, theatre and storytelling programmes can reduce an individual’s risk of developing non-communicable diseases.
First author Jill Sonke said: “We don’t want to just treat these diseases, we want to prevent them.
“We would love to see funding and interventions move upstream from treatment toward prevention, and the arts should be part of that prevention strategy, because they really can help.”
Throughout the trial, the researchers from the University of the Arts Singapore assessed 95 studies involving more than 230,000 participants.
Corresponding author Professor Nisha Sajnani said: “If we are serious about reducing the global burden of non-communicable diseases, we must treat the arts as essential to public health infrastructure.
“Arts and cultural activities provide cost-effective and scalable tools for prevention that, when embedded in health promotion and grounded in community partnership, can expand access, close equity gaps and strengthen the uptake of healthy behaviours.”
According to the study, art programmes help to make health messages more engaging, relevant to people’s lives and memorable.
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Experts have said people are more likely to take part in, and stick to, a health promotion campaign when it is linked to an engaging creative experience.
Art programmes that reflect local cultures and practices can improve access, boost participation, increase uptake of health information and encourage behaviour change, the research has reported.
Read the study in full in the journal Nature Medicine.
