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Discover how art can improve our health, make us happier and even help us live longer with the inspiring new book from the award-winning scientist and world-leading expert.

DIET. SLEEP. EXERCISE. NATURE. ARTS?

Many of us consider making and consuming art to be a hobby, or even a luxury. But what if arts engagement – from classical music to salsa, poetry to pop concerts, galleries to graffiti – was in fact one of our most powerful tools for unlocking health and happiness?

What if art could help you live longer – and even save your life?

In Art Cure, world-leading expert and award-winning scientist Professor Daisy Fancourt reveals the life-changing power of the arts, including how:

• 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.
• Dance build new neural pathways for people with brain injuries.
• 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.

And, perhaps most importantly, how art helps us not only to survive, but to thrive and flourish.

Fancourt draws on ground-breaking research in neuroscience, psychology, immunology, physiology, behavioural science and epidemiology, as well as inspiring true stories of people who have experienced radical changes in their health, to empower readers to improve their own health through the arts.

Informed by the results of decades of scientific studies, Art Cure is the must-read, inspiring guide to improving your health, giving you the tools to write your own 'arts prescription'.

'Every day we are overwhelmed by advice on how to live better. Art Cure is an amazing antidote to the deluge of nonsense . . . Everyone should read this.' XAND VAN TULLEKEN, doctor and presenter

'Elegantly distils the evidence for what we have always intuitively felt; that music, literature, cinema, and art are powerful universal remedies . . . A book for our times.' GILLIAN ANDERSON, bestselling author, actress and activist

'A revelation . . . Could not be more timely, nor make a stronger, more urgent case for placing the arts at the centre of our communities.' MELYN BRAGG, broadcaster and parliamentarian

'Fascinating, comprehensive, compelling, inspiring.' DR CHRISTOPHER BAILEY, World Health Organization

© Daisy Fancourt 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026