Older population in North Dakota can benefit from art

North Dakota – North Dakota has seen a 52% increase in the proportion of persons 65 and older over the past 15 years, according to NDCompass.org.

Over 150,000 people, or 18% of the state’s population, are anticipated to live in this area by 2025, according to North Dakota. Also, it’s crucial to look after their bodily and mental well-being.

One of the first states to investigate and create an arts and health program, with a concentration on senior citizens, was North Dakota. This is best illustrated by the “Art for Life” program of the North Dakota Council on the Arts.

Art therapy encourages elders to make slow, deliberate motions that can help individuals suffering from physical ailments or pains regain some motor function, whether they are just watching art or actively participating in it.

“You think about the power of experiencing art either as a creator or as someone who is witnessing it,” explained the Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson. “If you think about how we engage head, heart, and hand, intellectually, emotionally, and physically through the arts, it’s such an important way of being whole.”

In contrast to verbal treatment, art therapy places more emphasis on the senses of touch and vision. As a result, many seniors discover new methods of speaking and expressing themselves, which stimulates brain regions they have not used recently.