A ground-breaking exposé showing how the arts — alongside diet, sleep, exercise and nature — is the forgotten fifth pillar of health.

From cradle to grave, engaging in the arts has remarkable effects on our health and wellbeing. Songs support the architectural development of children’s brains. Creative hobbies help our brains to stay resilient against dementia. Visual art and music act just like drugs to reduce depression, stress, and pain, reducing our dependence on medication. Dancing and drumming affect neurotransmitters, hormones, cells, proteins, even the expression of our genes. Going to live music events, museums, exhibitions, and the theatre decreases our risk of future loneliness and frailty. Engaging in the arts improves the functioning of every major organ system in the body, even helping us to live longer.

This isn’t sensationalism, it’s science: the results of decades of studies gathering data from neuroimaging, molecular biomarkers, wearable sensors, cognitive assessments, and electronic health records.

From Professor Daisy Fancourt, an award-winning scientist and science communicator and Director of the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health, this book will fundamentally change the way you value and engage with arts in your daily life, and give you the tools to optimize how, when, and what arts you engage in to achieve your health goals.

The arts are not a luxury in our lives. They are essential.