Hello and welcome back to Making Sense of Women's Health. I am Roberta Bass. I am a Remedial Hypnotist, a Women's Health Physiotherapist, Pilates instructor and menopause mentor, and I am the founder of Thrive and Shy Women's Wellness.

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, I want to talk about something that's incredibly powerful, but often overlooked when it comes to supporting our mental health, and that is creative expression. We usually think of stress management in terms of rest, maybe some meditation thrown in there. But tapping into your creativity can be just as effective and in many cases more accessible, sustainable and more fun, especially when life is feeling heavy, overwhelming or just monotonous.

I see a wide range of different women coming in for various problems and stress is always a huge factor in many of the issues that I support them with. And that could be sleep disruption, chronic pain, anxiety, and overwhelm during perimenopause or even postnatal recovery.

What's often missing is a way for these women to have an emotional release, have some more focus and reconnection with themselves more than just what they do day to day, whether it's being a mum, whether it's working whatever else you do within a day. And creative expression does just that. It gives us a way to express, process and recharge without needing to talk things through or find solutions. It allows the nervous system to down regulate, so calm down, and the brain to shift out of any kind of problem solving mode and into something more grounded and connected.

For me, one of the ways that I manage my stress is through theatre. So I'm in an amateur dramatic society and I love performing. I also love directing and being involved with any creative things such as costumes and anything that gets my creative juices flowing.

And I love the structure of it. I mean, there's a challenge, but we're working towards a goal to put on a show. And we've got all those creative things that go alongside it. I obviously want the shows to come out as best they can. So I do care about that end result, but it is a really fun way to be somebody else for a while, particularly when you're on stage. It's just, you're that character. Any stresses and worries of the day go. And it's not just a hobby, I obviously want to do it well, but it brings me great joy to get out and to perform and to direct and to create things. And it also gives me a sense of belonging. So we've got a community, we've got friends there, we go and have a laugh.

It allows me to be myself, particularly like when the kids are young and you spend a lot of time being mum or going to work. It is somewhere that you can be yourself or somebody else if you're acting. But it makes you focus. You're there in that present moment and it just gives you kind of that joy.

And being part of that community as well, working together, solving problems, you're creating something from scratch. And I also enjoy doing drawing, art, I got into pastels. I just like anything arty. I struggle to often find the time. Theatre, I spend many hours doing. I do like to do the art, but unfortunately we can't do everything. Something has to go. But when I've got the time, I do enjoy that kind of mental stillness. It kind of just, you're in the moment, you're creating something. Again, your worries kind of drift away.

But why does this creativity help with stress? If we look at why on a biological and physiological level, our cortisol levels, which is our main stress hormone, reduces.

There was a study in 2016 that showed 45 minutes of art making led to significantly lower cortisol levels, and that was regardless of the skill level. So even if you're not good at art, then you would still get that benefit. But creativity also activates different brain areas and it shifts us out of the overthinking and the worry-driven parts of the brain. It helps to increase our dopamine, boosts our motivation and our mood. It can also improve our heart rate variability, can reduce blood pressure and support immune function. Also, it can encourage mindfulness without needing to sit still or meditate. If we look at brain imaging research, then you can see that creativity lights up the default mode network.

Then this is the part of the brain associated with self-reflection, emotional regulation and meaning making. And tasks like drawing, storytelling or improvisation can also activate the medial prefrontal cortex, which plays a role in processing emotion and building resilience. So we're not just distracting ourselves, we're actually helping the brain reorganise, regulate, build new connections that support emotional wellbeing.

Now, some people might worry that they're not good at art, but you do not need to be an artist to be creative. Your outlet might be something visual, musical, physical or even organisational. And there are a few questions and ideas that can help you explore this.

So what have you lost yourself in before? What activity helps you switch off, feel absorbed, even if you haven't done it for years? Do you enjoy structure or free flow? So some people love improvisation, others prefer following a pattern or rehearsing something to a high standard. Knowing your preference can help you choose that right outlet, whether that's writing, painting, choreography or designing an event.

Do you prefer solo or shared? So you might love the peace of drawing alone, or you might prefer the buzz of collaborating, say in a choir or a crafting group or like me in a theatre company. Community creativity adds emotional connection as well, which can be really protective for our mental health.

Ideally start small and stay consistent. So even if you can put aside 10 to 15 minutes a week, it can be enough to see benefits. Maybe try setting a creative half an hour aside on a Sunday evening or leave supplies out that you'll see them. The aim is to make it easy but also enjoyable. It doesn't have to be perfect.

So some things that you might want to consider doing, things like drawing or painting or even digital art, there's some good apps on an iPad if you have them and that can be even just colouring or creating your own art. Maybe you'll prefer singing or dancing or playing an instrument. If you've never played an instrument maybe take it up because that's going to help with your brain and your cognition. So we spoke about brain fog last week. Playing a new instrument or doing something new is really great for your brain health but also being creative it can also help with our stress levels.

Going out and doing some gardening or flower arranging. Getting out in nature is really good for our stress levels anyway. Doing something creative with it, even more beneficial. Or maybe it's just something like cooking that you enjoy making up your own recipes. Theatre, I always got to mention theatre, that’s my main thing.

But as part of that, it might be doing some sewing to make some costumes, or maybe you want to make yourself a bag or a new dress or maybe scrapbooking or journaling. Journaling is great for many different things. And there's different ways that you can do journaling. You can do it as in writing. You can do just like conscious flow. So you just write what you're thinking. It could be gratitude journaling, could be bullet journaling. You can mix it with the scrapbooking and then you're getting the images in there as well as the writing.

Maybe you want to take the theatre theme and you want to do some directing or some set design. If you enjoy leadership and planning things then doing some kind of project-based thing could be really helpful. Maybe there’s some charities out there that would appreciate you doing some creative event.

We have a local arts quarter and they do lots of activities there. So that includes learning how to paint, how to use textiles, but they have groups, they meet up, they do events and have things decorated around the village as well. So there's lots of ways that you can get involved.

But so often we put creativity in a box — something we used to enjoy or something we think we're not good enough to pursue. But what if it was actually a vital part of how you manage your stress and protect your well-being?

And you don't need a finished product, you need a process that brings you into the moment and helps you feel like you and gives your brain and body just a bit of a break.

This Mental Health Awareness Week, I'd love you to ask yourself: What creative outlet have I been missing? And how could I bring a little of that back into my life?

Whether it's performing on stage, getting lost in a costume plan, or simply singing in the kitchen, doing a little bit of a colouring — it all counts, and it all helps.

So thank you for joining me today. I would love to hear about anything that you do as your creative outlet or anything that you would like to do.

I'll put the link in the show notes to a Facebook group and you can comment in there to tell me how you reduce your stress with creative activities. Maybe you can get some ideas from other people in the group if you really don't know where to start. But for now, take care and I will see you next time.