Creative expression fosters positive feelings that prompt a positive outlook and a sense of well-being. By promoting positive emotions, creativity promotes positive immune function. New research into the capacity for learning and creative development in the second half of life has shown that when the mind is challenged, the brain biologically responds in positive ways, regardless of age. In fact, the more we think and do, the more we contribute to vibrant cell life in the brain. The brain actually responds physically and chemically to environmental challenge.
Brain cells involved in thinking and memory communicate with one another in two fundamental ways.
One way is through branchlike extensions known as dendrites. The other way is through the release of chemical messengers between the branches. Science has shown that a stimulating environment results in individual brain cells sprouting new dendritic branches and an increased production within the brain of acetylcholine, the chemical messenger most involved in memory and thinking functions. The newest findings reveal that from an individual's early 50s through late 70s, there is actually an increase in the length and extent of the dendritic branches, which compensate for brain-cell loss that can occur over time. If you picture the chemical messengers as busy squirrels, and two adjacent brain cells as two trees, a new growth of branches makes it easier for the squirrels to leap from one tree to another.